Small Town Zombies
by The masked maniac writer
Summary: The city of Concordia is a warzone filled with thousands of zombies, and the only ones who can save the small city is a group of five kids. But will they manage to save the town by themselves? R&R. Part of chapter 3 is currently up. Please R&R.
1. Day One

Day one  
  
Disclaimer: I own the characters, the plot, the location, (possibly the title, I'm not sure) and that's about it. Anything else mentioned is somebody else's property.  
  
Author's Note: This story is not recommended for anybody under the age of 16. This story will contain, blood, gore, vomiting, language, graphic scenes, intense violence, minors using firearms and language, death, defacing of public servants, destruction of private and public property, more death, decapitation, dismemberment, murder, intense anger, and everything else that gives that can give a story an R rating. So a word of advice, don't take after these characters, it isn't healthy.  
  
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These are the main characters of the story. They are as follows:  
  
Name: Jake Rashad  
  
Nationality: United States  
  
Age: 22  
  
Birth date: 7-11-80  
  
Height: 6' 1"  
  
Weight: 165 lbs.  
  
Eyes: Green  
  
Education: Completed high school  
  
Bio: Jake is an intelligent guy, he has leadership capabilities, but is somewhat on the bossy side, and doesn't take well to somebody else taking control. He loves to exercise on a regular basis, and can lift over 200 pounds. Instead of going to college, he decided to get a head start on a career and earn money.  
  
Name: Sam Arnold  
  
Nationality: United States  
  
Age: 20  
  
Birth date: 2-1-82  
  
Height: 5' 11"  
  
Weight: 160 lbs.  
  
Eyes: Gray  
  
Education: College dropout  
  
Bio: Sam has never been the brightest bulb in the light fixture, also somewhat naive, but he knows enough on how to get around and survive. College proved to be too difficult for him, so he dropped out and got a job at working on people's yards and lawns.  
  
Name: Salley Marshal  
  
Nationality: United States  
  
Age: 18  
  
Birth date: 7-4-84  
  
Height: 5' 8"  
  
Weight: 145 lbs.  
  
Eyes: bluish green  
  
Education: High school, soon to attend college  
  
Bio: Sally loves gymnastics, she's the head of her class when it comes to PE as well as a B average student. But underneath, she's a feisty girl who can kick major butt. She's studied martial arts, and is working to become a black belt in karate.  
  
Name: Shinigami (real name unknown)  
  
Nationality: United States/Japan  
  
Age: 19  
  
Birth date: 6-6-84  
  
Height: 5' 10"  
  
Weight: 155 lbs.  
  
Eyes: Purple  
  
Education: Attending high school  
  
Bio: Shinigami, the Japanese term for the Grim Reaper. And that's just how he likes to be referred to. He's the kind of guy that nobody in the group likes. He's good in school, but not in getting along with other people, he often curses them out and yells at them for staring. He's more than willing to get into a fight, and can hold his own during it. Most of the time, he keeps a duffle bag full of "equipment" in case of emergencies. He has no idea why the others invited him, and doesn't really care either. His use of American obscenities is that of a master. He loves wearing black, and is rarely seen without at least two pieces of black clothing on.  
  
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Concordia, one of the smaller cities in the state of Kansas. Mainly a farming community, but it's more than that. It has computer stores, Wal-Marts, grocery stores, police, banks, electronic stores, downtown businesses, an always busy four lane highway, hardware stores, plenty of hotels, and the ever annoying door to door salesmen that just don't take "no" for an answer, no matter how you phrase it.  
  
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4:00 P.M. Two SUV's, one green, and one gray, packed with supplies, raced along the highway at 55 mph, the green one tailing the gray one. In the gray one, sitting in the driver seat, was Sam Arnold. In the green one, Jake Rashad manned the driving, Salley Marshal was in the passenger seat, and sitting in the far back, was the anti social "Shinigami", muttering to himself, pondering over why he was here.  
  
"Jake, how much longer until we reach this place? I thought you said that we were close," Salley told him.  
  
"We are, just another hour until we get there," Jake replied, signaling that he was moving into the turning lane, before pulling into it, being mimicked by the gray SUV.  
  
"I don't get why I had to come along, I was miserable enough at home, and coming on the God damned camping trip is pointless," Shinigami complained.  
  
"You're coming along because your mother asked that we bring you along. We don't like it either, but we did it for her," Jake told him.  
  
"You know Shinigami, none of us even know what you're real name is. What is it anyway," Salley asked.  
  
"Forget it, if you couldn't get it from my mother, you sure as hell aren't going to get it from me," Shinigami replied, going back to mumbling to himself.  
  
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One mile up ahead, a large tanker truck pulled out on an intersection, signaling for a left turn. Everything went along smoothly, until suddenly, the truck stopped, blocking one and a half of the right lanes. The engine had died.  
  
"What the hell? Aw fuck, don't quit on me," the driver screamed. He tried starting the truck again, but the engine had sounded like it was flooded. "Aw shit! I can't believe this, of all the god damned luck," the driver cursed loudly and smashed his fist on the dashboard.  
  
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"God damned shit!" Jake made a sharp turn to the left, moving into the left lane, barely missing the stalled truck, then turning to the right, narrowly avoiding a head on collision with a pickup. "That guy's insane!"  
  
"Where the fuck did you learn how to drive," Shinigami yelled.  
  
"My father," Jake told him.  
  
"Figures, one dumb ass leads another," he mumbled.  
  
"I heard that! I'd watch it if I were you. It's not too late for me to dump you out here and leave you behind," Jake told him as he tried to calm himself down.  
  
"I'll take that offer, drop me off here," Shinigami told him.  
  
"...On second thought, forget it. You're coming along with us and be miserable," Jake told him.  
  
"You know I hate your fucking guts, right," Shinigami asked/told him.  
  
"So what else is new," Jake replied.  
  
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"I can't believe this, these guys are gonna kill me," the driver said to himself. He pulled out a cellphone and began dialing a number. The phone rang once, twice, three times, before being picked up.  
  
"Hello," a voice on the other end said.  
  
"Sir, we've got trouble. My truck engine died halfway on the highway, right in two lanes, and I can't get the damn thing to start, I'm gonna need some help," the driver told him.  
  
"God, damn, is the thing still intact," the voice asked.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, but I can't get it started. This delivery is gonna be delayed several hours, at least."  
  
"I don't care, just get that tanker here ASAP! And above all, don't let anything happen to that tank, we can't have it breaking," the voice ordered and then hung up loudly.  
  
"Lousy bastard, what the hell is so special about this cargo," the driver asked himself as he began dialing another number.  
  
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"I still can't believe that guy back there, what was he thinking, stopping his truck in the middle of the highway," Salley asked to nobody in particular, wishing that the time would pass faster.  
  
"Like I would know, probably drunk off his ass," Shinigami told her.  
  
"Why don't you shut up back there before I have to hurt you," Jake ordered.  
  
"Aw fuck off and keep your eyes on the road. I may be an atheist, but I don't wanna see what happens when you're killed by a fool," Shinigami told him.  
  
Nobody spoke for the rest of the trip. The two SUV's followed the highway, until the group had reached the forest area. The green SUV pulled up next to the gray one, and the group exited.  
  
"Allright everybody, this is the place," Jake announced.  
  
"...Lovely, remind me again just why the hell we came to this tree infested hunk of land," Shinigami told them.  
  
"We three decided to do some camping and have some fun. You however, were dragged along because your mother insisted that we bring you. She said that it would do you some good," Sam told him and went to work at unpacking the SUV.  
  
"Bah, I hope there's bears or something around here, this place sucks, I haven't even been here five minutes and I already know it," Shinigami told them. Jake dug through the back of the SUV, unzipped it, and pulled out a double-headed axe with a red handle. "Since you're no team player, go chop some firewood." Shinigami grabbed the axe by the handle. He flipped the axe in his hands, before putting it over his shoulder and walking off.  
  
"That guy gives me the creeps," Salley told them.  
  
"I know, the guy's crazy. What kind of normal person names himself after the God of death," Sam asked.  
  
"That crazy axe murderer did. Keep your guard up, just in case," Jake told them, "now come on, let's take stock of the equipment. Tent," Jake asked.  
  
"Check," Sam replied.  
  
"Thirty gallons worth of water, sodas, five lanterns, five first aid kits."  
  
"Check, check, and check."  
  
"Four sleeping bags, lots of extra batteries, radios, walkie talkies."  
  
"Check, check, check, and check."  
  
"Flashlights, glow sticks, food supplies, cooking utensils, books."  
  
"Check, check, and more check."  
  
"Axes, hammers, gasoline, kerosine, insect repellent, extra clothes."  
  
"Check again. Everything's here," Salley told him.  
  
"Good, now let's get camp set up," Jake ordered.  
  
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"Stinkin' truck, just had to break down in the middle of the highway," the truck driver said to himself, still festering over the entire situation.  
  
"Yeah I know, cheap foreign technology. That's why I always buy American," the tow truck driver replied.  
  
The tow truck began to climb up a bridge section of the highway. It neared the top, but then, just like the tanker truck, it too, cut out.  
  
"Aw shit, stupid American piece of shit," the driver yelled angrily and pushed the break to the floorboard, trying to stop from being pulled back down.  
  
"This shit ain't good, this thing's gonna tip over if we hit that turn we just made," the truck driver yelled as they were being pulled back.  
  
"Quick, before this rig is destroyed, abandon truck," the tow truck driver yelled. Both doors were flung open and the two jumped out, rolling on the asphalt as they did.  
  
Seconds after the two had escaped, the tanker had rolled back and into the turn, half way following it, and half way plowing through it. It proved to be too much for the two trucks to handle, and they were turned over on their sides with a loud crash and sparks flying.  
  
"Shit, that can't be good," both drivers said at the same time, earning a look from the other.  
  
"Should we go see the extent of the damage or stay away," the tow truck drive asked.  
  
"I don't know about you, but I've got to go check and make sure that tank isn't broken. The guy I was hauling it to said that it would be a catastrophe if that happened," the other driver told him and ran over to the tanker.  
  
"Is the thing damaged," the driver asked.  
  
"I don't know, I can't see any---" he was cut off. A jet of green, noxious looking gas shot from the tank, spraying the driver in the face. He pulled away several seconds later, coughing and choking.  
  
"Jesus man what the hell is that shit," the tow truck driver asked.  
  
"I dunno but that stuff is putrid, it smells like rotten septic tank shit," the other man replied and pulled out his cellphone, "that HAZMAT crew had better get out here fast, this can't be good."  
  
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The tent has been set up, and a ring of stones had been made, ready for firewood, and for tonight.  
  
"Allright, now that camp is set up, where's that crazy axe murderer with the wood," Salley asked.  
  
"Here's your God damned fire wood!" Shinigami had dumped a large pile of wood in front of the circle. "The next time you guys want some fire wood, ask some other patsy. There was a crazy rabid badger out there snarling at me," he told them.  
  
"What'd you do about it," Jake asked. He then wished that he hasn't asked. one of the axe heads, was dripping was blood.  
  
"What else." Shinigami swung the axe, planting the head into a tree.  
  
"God, Shinigami you're a sick bastard," Salley told him.  
  
"So what else is new?"  
  
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The HAZMAT group had arrived shortly after being called, and were now dealing with the tipped tanker. All of the members were wearing protective suits, making sure not to be exposed to the chemicals that were slowly leaking from the tanker.  
  
"So, how bad is it," the truck driver asked.  
  
"Things aren't good. The structural integrity of the tanker has been compromised from the shock of it hitting the ground. The leak is very slow right now, but if we can't get it stopped, everything is going to escape," one of the HAZMAT members told him. He then saw that the driver's complexion was different, and he didn't look too well.  
  
"Sir, are you allright, you look kind of gray."  
  
"Personally, I feel like shit," the driver told him. He barely had finished the last word, before falling to his knees, and spewing an approximate gallon of stomach contents all over the asphalt in a violent fashion. Everybody cringed in disgust, taking a good step back.  
  
"Shit," he muttered as he wiped his mouth, only to bring up another round of barf.  
  
"This isn't good. We have to get this man to a hospital he might be infected! Put out an alert; let anybody who feels ill know that they should get to the hospital immediately. Johnson, get a sample of that chemical so we know what we're dealing with," the head HAZMAT member ordered.  
  
Another member ran over to the tanker, withdrawing a vile from a suit pocket, and attempted to get a sample of the mysterious chemical. But he stopped suddenly, hearing something strange. The sound was like, metal being stressed.  
  
Without warning, the crack in the tanker had grown bigger. Metal bits were thrown in every direction from built up pressure, knocking the HAZMAT member back, and puncturing the suit. The jet of chemicals spilled out at an even greater rate.  
  
Another crack formed, this time a putrid green liquid spilled out at an incredible rate. And just as it hit the hot ground, it evaporated, turning into a more gaseous state, going into the air.  
  
"Good God, this is NOT good. Allright everybody, we've got to deal with everybody who might become infected! Get a sample of that shit, put out a city wide alert, and get these injured people to the hospital now!"  
  
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All across town, the strange green gas creeped through the streets of the city, mixing with the multiple gases and fumes that were expelled from the trucks and cars and motorcycles.  
  
The heat that emanated from the hot asphalt and the vehicle's engines, heated the gas, sending it into the higher atmosphere, and mixed it with the clouds.  
  
The clouds suddenly began to grow very dark, and the sound of thunder could be heard.  
  
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"What the hell? The forecast didn't call for rain, I checked it before we left," Jake stated angrily.  
  
"Shut your pie hole and get in the Van, if we have a thunderstorm, I don't want to be stuck in that fuckin' tent," Shinigami yelled and slammed the back door of the gray SUV. Jake followed, while Sam and Salley got in the green one.  
  
Not ten seconds later, did a bolt of lightning flash, and rain began to poor, hard. The raid beating down on the vehicles sounded like hail, or a roll of firecrackers going off.  
  
"The weather is weird. Maybe they've got something on the radio." Jake started the SUV and turned on the radio, turning it to the news station.  
  
"We interrupt the news with a special announcement! A city wide alert has been put into affect. Earlier today, at approximately 4:30 P.M. a tanker truck had tipped over and caused a gas leak. Shortly afterwards, the tank was ruptured, spilling out the mysterious substance that it was carrying, and sending gas fumes throughout downtown areas of Concordia. Two men have been hospitalized for supposed poisoning from this mysterious gas. If anyone feels ill, please go to the nearest hospital and seek treatment immediately. We now return you to your regularly scheduled program."  
  
"I wonder if that's the same tanker we almost collided with earlier today," Jake said to nobody in particular.  
  
"How should I know. At least we're safe from that gas," Shinigami told him.  
  
"How do you know that," Jake asked.  
  
"Simple, simpleton. They said "throughout downtown areas of Concordia" which leads me to believe the gas is heavy, like cold air. And the downtown areas are on a lowered plain, while the uptown area are on a raised plain, or hill. And as you know, we had to drive up a hill to get here, so theoretically we should be safe from the gas," Shinigami theorized.  
  
"For a public school education, you're pretty smart. But what if you're wrong and we get poisoned as well," Jake asked him.  
  
"What else. Drive like all of hell is on our asses and get to the closest hospital."  
  
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"God, I feel like total shit." The tanker truck drive groaned and laid back in the hospital bed, feeling bad enough to wish that he could just die. "Oh crap!" He rolled over in his bed and retched big time into a basin, nearly filling it to the top.  
  
"Oh I don't feel good, I don't feel good at all," the HAZMAT member moaned, lying a few beds down. He too then leaned over and vomited, but missed the basin, spilling his guts onto the floor.  
  
"Nurse," the both croaked at the same time.  
  
Two nurses walked over to the patients, being careful to avoid the sides of the bed where they had just been sick, and began to take their vital signs.  
  
"That's unusual," one of the nurses stated in surprise.  
  
"What is," The HAZMAT member asked.  
  
"I can't get any heartbeat, or a pulse, something must be wrong," she told him.  
  
"I'll say, that only happens when you're dead," he told her, shortly before turning and vomiting again.  
  
"Just hold on, I'll go get the doctor, and a fresh basin," the nurse told him and sprinted off to find one of the on duty doctors.  
  
"What've I got toots? Have I got pneumonia, gangrene, salmonella, what," the driver asked/groaned.  
  
"I really don't know for sure, these readings are like nothing I've ever seen before. Just hold on and I'll go get the doctor," the nurse told him and followed her coworker.  
  
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"How long has this rain been going," Salley asked.  
  
"About...half an hour," Sam told her.  
  
The two sat in silence for several seconds, before Salley's phone began to ring."  
  
"Salley, Sam, turn the radio on to 109.2, you've gotta hear this," Jake's voice told them. Sam revved up the engine and turned on the radio, turning it to the announced station.  
  
"In the past few hours, an estimated 3,000 patience had been admitted to local hospitals, complaining of strange symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, intense chills, and aches and pains. Doctors are baffled, never before have they seen such an outbreak of such a weird strain of disease. Experts believe that these sudden sickness is related to the tanker incident earlier this afternoon---"  
  
Sam turned off the radio, not caring to hear anymore. "So what does this mean," he asked.  
  
"Damned if I know. But that's crazy, 3,000 people in just a few hours. What the hell is going on here," Jake asked.  
  
"This seems to add more possibility to my theory. But what I want to know is why the hell is it...oh no, oh hell no, it can't be," Shinigami said to himself.  
  
"Wha' does that fool want," Sam asked.  
  
"I dunno. Shinigami, Sam wants to know what the hell you're talking about."  
  
"Gimme that phone, that way I won't have to explain it twice." Shinigami swiped the cellphone quickly, putting it to his head. "Have any of you seen "Return of the Living Dead"," he asked.  
  
"I saw it once, why," Salley asked.  
  
"Those two guys who worked at that cadaver place, they found a barrel of Trioxin 245, and accidentally broke the seal, exposing themselves to the noxious chemicals. They had similar symptoms to those that were just mentioned, and it turns out that the chemical was turning them into the living dead! Then when they had that loose cadaver cremated, the Trioxin was released into the air, seeded the clouds, and suddenly caused a downpour of Trioxin, resurrecting the corpses of the local cemetery," Shinigami explained.  
  
"Shinigami, you've been watching WAY too much TV," Salley told him.  
  
"Like I said, it's a theory. Circumstances just seemed really familiar, and that's the first thought that I had," Shinigami told them.  
  
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One of the few cemeteries in Concordia wasn't left out of the downpour. Large puddles of rain were collecting on the ground, soaking deep into the ground.  
  
At one of the many graves, a strange disturbance appeared. The ground seemed to be getting pushed up from beneath. Then, out of the ground, came a hand. a deteriorated looking hand, the skin was gray and broken, cracked, and missing at the knuckles. The muscle and flesh underneath had long since dried up, and the veins and arteries had broken and cracked.  
  
The arm began to emerge. The suit was worn, dirty, and old, torn, weathered over the years.  
  
The other arm began to emerge, just like the other, followed by the head. Most of the hair had fallen out or disintegrated. The skin was pale and gray, worn away, showing muscle tissue and bone. The lips had deteriorated, showing the gums and teeth.  
  
The monstrosity pulled itself from the grave. Its suit that is had been buried in, weathered and torn. The pants, just the same, the shoes, scuffed and worn, showing the toes, mud covering everything on it.  
  
All over the graveyard, more of the dead slowly climbed out of the graves. Children, older people, teenagers, men, women, all of them arose. Groans sounded from them in unearthly tones.  
  
Slowly, the rain began to let up, and the undead stumbled, limped, crawled, and walked out of the cemetery, moaning and groaning.  
  
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All throughout the hospital, the recently admitted patients were screaming in agony, pain going throughout the systems. Nobody was capable of remaining silent; the pain was too great.  
  
"I've never seen anything like this. This must be some kind of new flu that has never been seen," one of the doctors theorized.  
  
"I don't care what it is doctor, just let me die for the love of God," one of the patients begged, screaming in agony.  
  
"GAHHHHH," the tanker truck driver screamed. His back was arched in intense pain, before his body dropped to the bed, lifelessly.  
  
"Nurse, get me a breathing bag STAT," the doctor yelled and rushed to his side. The nurse quickly brought the device over, and the doctor slipped it over the truck driver's body. He pumped the bag, trying to force air into the man's body and get his heart started again.  
  
"Nurse, are you getting anything," the doctor asked.  
  
"Nothing doctor," the nurse replied. The doctor began pumping the bag harder, determined to get the man breathing again.  
  
The man let out a groan as his eyes slowly opened, flooded green, and glassy. The doctor didn't have time to leap back, the man gripped the doctor's throat, and bit into the side of his neck, spraying blood a good five feet and over his face. The nurse screamed loudly, terrified by what she had just witnessed.  
  
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The rain had finally let up, and the parched ground eagerly sucked much of it up. The four exited the SUV's and began looking around the campsite. "Boy, the first good rain in months. This place was becoming a desert," Jake said as he looked around.  
  
"Really Einstein," Shinigami asked. He opened the back of the gray SUV and pulled out a pocket radio and turned it to 109.2, "let's see what the latest news on the epidemic back in town is."  
  
"We repeat, be on alert! The 3,000 victims who have suffered from the mysterious disease, have taken a turn for the worse, and have become violently insane. They are now wandering the streets of Concordia and are attacking innocent bystanders who have yet to catch the mysterious disease. Theses people are described as having pale, gray complexions, and flooded green, glassy eyes. If you encounter these people, avoid them at all costs, they are considered contagious, and extremely danger---."  
  
"Aw damn, this can't be good," Salley said in a worried tone.  
  
"Does anybody doubt my theory now," Shinigami asked.  
  
"Yeah, me, I still don't believe that "Night of the Living Dead" is happening here in this town," Sam announced.  
  
"Believe whatever you want to believe. But I've gotta take care of something," Shinigami told them. He unzipped his duffle bag, and pulled out a smaller black bag, and began to walk off with it.  
  
"Where're you going," Jake asked.  
  
"I gotta take a fuckin' piss so leave me alone. And if somebody follows me, you'll end up missing a couple of pieces," he told them and took off at a jogging pace.  
  
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A riot squad had been called in, wearing SWAT team armor, one of them carrying a gun for launching tear gas, and each of them standing together in a neat fashion.  
  
Half a block away, a large group of strangers, moaning and groaning, had formed, and was staggering down the street. Some of them wore nothing but hospital gowns, while other normal, but torn clothes. Their complexions were pale gray, and their eyes, flooded with green.  
  
"Allright guys, the twenty of us, have gotta take on those...things. Launch a tear gas can in there, now." The member holding the tear gas launcher, fired a can into the group, waiting for the gas to affect them. But to his surprise, they weren't reacting to it at all.  
  
"Oh shit," he muttered.  
  
"Okay, plan B. Move in and beat them unconscious, but be careful," the leader ordered and pulled his gas mask over his face. The others did the same, and moved in, holding their shields out and readying their batons for a major beating.  
  
The team moved in, encountering the mob, and began to beat them with the batons, while fending them off with the shields. But it soon turned in favor of the mob, no matter how hard they were hit, they refused to go down, and stay down. Instead, they kept getting back up.  
  
"Why the fuck won't these guys stay down," one of the members cursed and beat another gang member, most likely breaking the shoulder and knocking him down. The man groaned, but instead of getting up, he grabbed the squad member's leg, and bit into it, tearing away a hunk of flesh. The squad member howled in pain and fell to the ground, grasping his injury.  
  
The few that had fallen, quickly swarmed over the fallen squad member, grabbing and biting him, blood gushing everywhere and howls and screams of pain could be heard a block away.  
  
"What in the name of God is going on here? What kind of disease turns people into insane cannibals," another squad member asked as he helplessly watched his team member get eaten alive. He didn't have time to react, he was too, overrun by the cannibals, and soon suffered the same fate as the other member.  
  
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"Man, how long does it take for somebody to take a leak? It's not like you can hold ten gallons of piss," Jake told them as he paced back and forth, carrying the axe that Shinigami had used to cut the firewood.  
  
"I hope he didn't run into one of those insane people," Salley told them and threw another piece of wood on the campfire.  
  
"Hey guys, I'm worried. What if, what if he was right about that zombie stuff. What if he wasn't watching too much TV? What if we are going to be overrun by the living dead," Sam asked nervously.  
  
"Sam, calm down, your paranoia is getting the best of you. It's physically impossible for the dead to walk again," Jake told him, "now just calm down, relax, and shut up, you're driving me crazy with that kind of talk," Jake told him.  
  
"Shh, do you guys hear something? It sounds like somebody's coming," Salley told them and stood back up.  
  
A light moaning could be heard, and the trudging sound of footsteps came closer every second. "Do you think that's Shinigami," Sam asked.  
  
"I doubt it, he doesn't seem like the moaning type. It might be one of those people that became infected," Jake told them and readied his axe, just in case.  
  
Slowly, a figure stepped into the lighted area. His clothes had been tattered and soiled, and his complexion was light gray and sickly. And the most notable thing were the green eyes. Completely flooded green, and glassy.  
  
"Shit," they all muttered at once.  
  
"Hey you fool, get out of here right now," Jake ordered and raised his axe. The figure replied with a groan, slowly trudging forward.  
  
"Get down," a very familiar voice yelled, and a dark figure stepped behind the other one. Everybody had a feeling about what might happen, and they dove out of the way.  
  
The figure turned around and groaned, and found himself only a foot and a half away, from a double-barreled shotgun. Two shots were fire, plowing through his chest, and sending him flying ten feet.  
  
"Miss me?" It was Shinigami, standing there, holding a double barreled, sawed off shotgun, still smoking from being fired. The butt had been sawed off almost completely, leaving nearly nothing but the handle. And the barrels had been cut down to just three inches away from the wooden stock.  
  
"Shinigami, what the fuck did were you thinking!? You just killed that guy," Salley yelled.  
  
"I killed nobody," Shinigami told them and stepped forward, cautiously approaching the corpse.  
  
"What the fuck do you mean? You just blew a hole in that guy's chest," Sam told him.  
  
"Did you guys flunk biology? Why didn't the blood splatter everywhere when I shot him," he asked. Nobody really had a reply for that one, "that's what I thought. The reason is, because this guy here, is a zombie. A real live/dead man, fit to be buried and mourned over. Since there was no blood splatter, and little sign of decomposition, he must've been dead, for about three or four day. Enough time for the body to suffer dehydration, and for the blood to dry up," he explained, sounding like an expert on the case.  
  
"How do you know all of this," Jake asked.  
  
"I've seen every zombie move made, from George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" to "Resident Evil". I know a thing or two about zombies," he told them. Once again, the zombie let out a groan and slowly got back to it's feet. The gaping hole the size of a basketball in it's chest did nothing to slow it down.  
  
Shinigami quickly loaded two shells into his gun, aimed, and fired. The top half of the zombie's head was completely blown off, splattering gore on the surrounding area, and partly on Shinigami.  
  
"You do know what this means don't you? It means that I was right, and those infected citizens, are most likely all zombies now," Shinigami told them.  
  
"So what do we do now," Salley asked as she clung to Sam's arm.  
  
"The only reasonable thing. We pack up the supplies, and head back to town as fast as we fucking can. We'll deal with problems from there," he told them, shortly before loading two new fresh shells into his shotgun.  
  
"Hold it, I've got some questions to ask. I suspect that gun was what you took with you, but how did you know to come back here when that dead guy attacked," Jake asked.  
  
"Remember me telling you about that badger I killed? When I was out, I was actually looking around, just to back up my crazy theory, and I found it, walking around like it was drunk, so I unloaded a couple shells right into its head. then, I figured that I should come back here and see if you guys were being attacked," Shinigami told them.  
  
"Well how come you're so calm? I can't quit shaking," Salley told him.  
  
"When you've lived my fucking shit type of life, you learn not to let anything get to you. Now come on! Let's get back to Concordia and see if we can find anybody who might've escape those walking dead," Shinigami ordered and got into the passenger seat of the gray SUV.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
The group of the undead had started to grow. Doctors, riot squad members, police, children, animals, it didn't matter, nobody was safe from the decaying forms that filled the now, deserted streets of the small town.  
  
They groaned, hungering for living flesh, and searching for their next meal, wherever, and whatever it might be.  
  
Windows and doors to buildings were being broken and knocked down, cars were being tipped over, nothing was safe.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
"Allright Grim Reaper, since you know so much about what we're dealing with, what's the plan of attack," Jake asked as he sped along the highway, easily breaking the speed limits.  
  
"We need to head to the Super Wal-Mart, I've only got a handful of shells left, and we need some supplies. Guns, ammo, melee weapons, and lots of other stuff," he told him.  
  
"That reminds me, where'd you get that shotgun," Jake asked.  
  
"It was my dad's. He willed it to me after he died. I swear, if I see him up and walking around, I'm gonna splatter his brains all over the pavement to repay how he treated us when I was younger," Shinigami told him, "...now what the hell is that up there?"  
  
Up ahead, was something that looked like a road barricade. Two yellow sawhorses with flashing lights, and two orange barrels, followed by another two sawhorses, and another two barrels. The pattern repeated in both direction what seemed like a mile.  
  
"Weird, it looks like a barricade, right where Concordia begins, or stops, depending on how you think of it," Jake told him.  
  
"Fuck the barricade, ram that thing we've got business to take care of!"  
  
"Right!" Jake switched the SUV into 4x4 drive, and plowed right through two of the sawhorses, sending them flying.  
  
"Who do you think set that thing up back there," Jake asked.  
  
"Probably the God damned military or someone along that line, trying to contain the city. They're probably trying to seal off the entire town. They probably don't even know what they're getting themselves into," Shinigami told him.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
The parking lot of Wal-Mart was empty; nothing, and nobody, not even a parked car, or a town drunk could be seen there.  
  
The two SUV's pulled up very close to the store, right in the people crossing, and everybody got out and charged over to the doors.  
  
"Damn it, the doors are locked," Jake yelled.  
  
"Not for long," Sam told them, he took the axe, and swung it hard, shattering the glass into millions of tiny pieces, "come on," he told them. As soon as they were past the first set of door, Sam shattered the glass to the inside doors, allowing everybody to get in.  
  
"Allright, grab some shopping carts, get over to the sporting goods and hardware department, grab whatever you need, and we'll meet in the gardening isle, and above all, be careful," Jake told them. All four of them took one of the shopping carts and split up into a different direction.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
SMASH! The glass of the gun case was shattered, sending debris everywhere. "Take whatever weapons you want, but I want another shotgun, and all the red shells," Shinigami ordered and took a 12 gauge, pump action shotgun and began looking it over.  
  
"Why the red shells," Jake asked as he began piling handguns into the cart.  
  
"They're two and a half inch shells. They're the size that my gun handles. If a put a three inch shell in there, my gun will explode in my hands," Shinigami explained and began to throw in all the boxes of red shells that he could find, while stuffing a couple into his pockets, and loading up his other gun.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
A small figure huddled behind a shelf, clutching a carbine rifle for dear life, breathing heavily and shaking in terror. Slowly, the figure peaked out behind the shelf; she managed to spot two strange figures at the sporting goods isle, but it proved to be a challenge with the dim lighting. Carefully, they raised the rifle, took aim, and fired right for the head of one of them.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
Shinigami ducked to pick up a box of ammo he had dropped, just in time to avoid being attacked from behind. "What the fuck, is somebody shooting at us," he asked.  
  
"I'd think so but I can't see, we need some real light in here," Jake told him.  
  
"I'm on it, try not to get yourself killed here, we don't need your running around dead," Shinigami told him and took off, trying to find a power switch of some kind.  
  
"Now, where's that crazy shooter? A better question, WHAT is that crazy shooter. If zombies have learned how to fire guns, we could be in deep trouble," Jake said to himself. He decided that it was time for something crazy. "Hello out there! If you're alive, knock twice, if you're dead, knock once," he yelled and listened closely for the reply.  
  
A weak, but audible, double knock could be heard. "Allright," he said to himself, "okay listen up, my partner is going to find the light switch so we can see better. Stay where you are until the lights come on, and try not to kill us anymore," he yelled.  
  
Several minutes later, the lights flickered, and then came back on, lighting the entire store. Jake took off to where he believed that he had been shot at, a found a small girl, clutching a rifle tightly.  
  
The girl couldn't have been much more than twelve years old. Her blue eyes were filled with terror, and her strawberry blond hair was in a mess from her sweat.  
  
"It's allright, you don't have to be scared, I'm a friend," Jake told her, "my name's Jake Rashad, what's yours?"  
  
"Ami Becker," she told him nervously.  
  
"Nice to meet you Ami, what're you doing here," Jake asked her.  
  
"I'm trying to hide from those people. They attacked my mom and dad, but I got away, I came here, and hid. I, I got in through the back doors that are used for loading stuff, and then I got this gun for protect me. My, my dad had one like it, and he showed me how to use it," Ami told him nervously.  
  
"Hey dumb ass who'd you find," Shinigami yelled. He came charging back to the sporting goods section, and then ran over to where Jake was.  
  
"Shinigami, this is Ami Becker. Her parents were attacked by those zombies, and she escaped to here," Jake explained.  
  
"Well that's just fucking wonderful. Pardon the colorful language, but when something like this happens, you're allowed to curse yourself sick," Shinigami told her.  
  
"What made those people attack," Ami asked.  
  
"They're not people, they're zombies. We're talking the walking dead here," Shinigami told her, "tweedle dumb ass, get the girl and get back to the guns, we need more supplies," he ordered.  
  
"Can you walk Ami," Jake asked.  
  
"I, I think so," Ami told him and stood up.  
  
"Then let's get moving," Shinigami ordered and marched off.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
"Hmmm, aluminum tent spikes, machetes, survival knifes...not very good, but they'll have to work in case we get into melee situations," Shinigami said to himself. Afterwards, he began to pack the crossbows and arrows into the carts as well.  
  
"Yo, Death, do you think it's about time we met up with the others," Sam asked.  
  
"Might as well, we've all but cleaned out this isle. The only things left are clothes and fishing gear, we can't use that. Allright let's move out," Shinigami told them and started shoving his cart forewords.  
  
"Is there something wrong with him," Ami asked.  
  
"He's very antisocial, just ignore him," Jake told her.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
"Allright jugheads, we've got the ammo and guns, what'd you get," Shinigami yelled.  
  
"Plenty, look," Salley told him. Inside of her cart, were hammers, nail cases, hatchets and axes, a couple of sledgehammers, a couple of pick axes, assorted sized prybars and crowbars, one chainsaw, putty knives, drills, screws, screw drivers, several toolboxes, and lots of heavy duty chains and locks.  
  
"Looks like you're prepared for melee situations. Now where's that other moron," Shinigami asked.  
  
"He's getting some of his own supplies in another department, he said that he'd be back in a little while," Salley told him.  
  
"He'd better not've gotten lost. I'm gonna see if anybody else is here. Oh, and meet a survivor, Ami Becker," Shinigami told him and began to walk off, taking one of the two foot long machetes with him, just in case of emergencies.  
  
"Who," Salley asked.  
  
"This little girl right here," Sam called out.  
  
"Oh, hello, how're you," Salley asked.  
  
"Scared, those, what're they, zombies? They're frightening," Ami told her.  
  
"Oh you poor thing. But how did you get in here," Salley asked.  
  
But before Ami could reply, Shinigami's voice could be heard, screaming "Oh my fucking God!" everybody dashed off in the direction he had gone, meeting with a truly gruesome sight.  
  
In the medicinal isle was a zombie, feasting on some poor, nameless, faceless victim. The arms and legs had chunks of flesh ripped off, as well as on the chest. The zombie was currently chewing on the face. Salley's stomach threatened to over turn, she turned to look away, holding Ami close to protect her from the gruesome sight.  
  
Jake was paralyzed in terror, never before had he seen anything so gruesome. A huge puddle of blood was on the floor, surrounding the corpse and the zombie, covering everything within the area. The zombie moaned and stood up, seeing Jake, and deciding that fresh meat would be much better.  
  
"Everybody get out of here," Jake yelled and pushed the girls away, leaving himself to fight the horrid monster. Or so he thought. A swinging sound, followed by the sound of a chop could be heard, and the zombie fell to the ground, its head rolling on the floor.  
  
"Can't any of you stay out of trouble without me having to save your asses," Shinigami asked, holding the black machete that he had taken with him.  
  
"Nice timing Shinigami, but what got you screaming," Jake asked.  
  
"Are you fucking blind or something, this mess was disgusting," Shinigami stated and waved his machete to show the current mess.  
  
"Well next time don't scream like that, we thought you'd been eaten," Jake told him.  
  
"No such luck. I search for that dumb ass idiot, and I interrupt an undead buffet," Shinigami told him. A groan was heard, both of them turned to see that the partially eaten corpse, was sitting up, "go back to your eternal rest." Shinigami pulled his machete back and brought it forward, cutting halfway through the creature's skull, making it drop back to the floor, dead again.  
  
"This store's giving me the creeps. Let's find the others, and get the hell out of here," Jake told him.  
  
"For once I'm not arguing. Who knows how many zombies are out there. They might be coming this way as we speak," Shinigami told him and kicked the decapitated head like a soccer ball.  
  
"Hey guys, I got my supplies!" Sam came charging out of one of the isles, his shopping cart full of assorted items. "Look at what I, oh my God! What happened here," Sam yelled.  
  
"Just a couple of zombies, nothing we couldn't handle. What's you find Sam," Jake asked.  
  
"Look and see, gas cans, golfclubs, lighters, lots of flashlights and batteries, and sixty bottles of beer," Sam told him.  
  
"Are you fucking crazy? We can't get soused to the gills, we'll wind up like them," Shinigami told him.  
  
"I'm not crazy, these drinks are gonna come in handy. They're an important ingredient in a certain drink. Molotov cocktails," Sam told him.  
  
"Hard to believe a guy like you would think of that," Shinigami told him, "now come on, get the others, and we're getting out of here," he announced.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
The five charged out of the store, pushing the shopping carts out. But as soon as they had exited, they met with a frightening site. Fifty zombies had entered the parking lot, and were slowly heading toward the store, and them.  
  
"Just perfect. You guys, load up the rides, I'll deal with this infestation," Shinigami told them.  
  
"Hold it, you can't take all of them by yourself you're gonna need help," Salley told him.  
  
"Just get the SUV's packed and ready to leave. What I can't deal with, run 'em over," Shinigami told them. He readied his machete and marched out, ready to fight. "Hey all you dead heads! Come and get me, fresh meat right here!"  
  
The zombies slowly approached Shinigami, a look of hunger in their green eyes. "Time to die, again." Shinigami slammed the blade of his machete into the head of one of the zombies, killing it instantly, while delivering a kick to the chops of another one behind him.  
  
"Is that all you've got? I've been in fights with school bullies worse then you!" Shinigami drew his trusty shotgun from a leg strapped holster, and unload a round of buckshot into the head of another zombie, taking it out. He used his shotgun as a makeshift club, bashing it against a zombie's head, taking it out, and firing the remaining shell into another's head.  
  
Shinigami had failed to notice the zombie right behind him. It grabbed him, surprising him, and tackling him to the ground. "Get the fuck off of me!" Shinigami buried the machete into the zombie's arm, cutting it off entirely, but it didn't do any good.  
  
He planted the barrel of his gun into the thing's chest, trying to push it back and off of him. The zombie let out a moan and struggled to get a hold of him, but instead, found two, cold, steel barrels in its mouth. "Surprise." It was Sam, holding a double-barreled shotgun. If the zombie's eyes weren't flooded green, one could've sworn that it had gone cross eyed, letting out a groan that sounded almost like "oh-oh".  
  
Jake pulled the trigger, unloading two rounds of buckshot, blowing its brains out the back of its head. "Damn this is fun," Jake stated and helped Shinigami back to his feet.  
  
"What the hell did I tell you! I told you to get the SUV's packed and ready to leave, let me deal with these things," Shinigami yelled at him.  
  
"You're welcome. You can't take all of them; you just got attacked from behind. Eventually they'll overrun and kill you. Then you'll be just like one of them," Jake told him.  
  
"I don't fucking care! Every zombie we don't kill, is just another threat we'll have to face! There are easily 3,000 zombies in Concordia alone, there's no telling how far this epidemic has spread! We have to take them out immediately! Now get in that Van and get the fucking hell out of here now," Shinigami yelled as he put two new shells into his shotgun.  
  
"Not without you, we need everybody who's alive to help us or else we may all die," Jake told him.  
  
"Get down!" Shinigami fired both blasts at a zombie who had gotten too close for comfort. The blast had blown the zombie's head off completely.  
  
"I hate to do this to ya, but I have to." Jake clubbed Shinigami with the butt of his gun, knocking him senseless and almost unconscious. Jake dragged him back and put him into the gray SUV, while Sam, Salley, and Ami were in the green one.  
  
As soon as Jake was in, they took off, trying to find a safer location, leaving a trail of the zombies that hadn't been killed, the slowly try and follow them.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
"I wonder what could've caused this. The dead don't just get and walk around, looking for somebody living to eat. This is like a bad movie," Sam said to himself.  
  
"What's going on, why're they doing this, what do they want," Ami asked, hoping to get an answer.  
  
"I don't Ami, I honestly don't know. All I really know is, this, is hell on Earth," Salley told her.  
  
"I wonder if there are other survivors in town. We can't be the only ones left, can we," Sam asked.  
  
"We could be, but it's hard to say. God, I've never seen the streets so deserted. It's scary, no sign of life out there, anywhere," Salley told them.  
  
"Yeah, like the town is deserted. Maybe everybody is hiding is boarded up buildings, or they escaped into Salina, or Topeka, or some other city," Sam told her.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
"Ohh, what in God's name hit me," Shinigami asked and held his head.  
  
"That was me, I had to knock some sense into you or you might've been one of them," Jake told him.  
  
"I'm going to refrain from killing you, until this crisis is over with," Shinigami told him, "we need to find some place that's safe to stay, at least for tonight anyway," he told him.  
  
"I know, the Super 8 Motel, out by the old Wal-Mart. We can lock ourselves in there, and there might be survivors there too," Jake told him.  
  
"Any port in a storm. Just get there, fast," Shinigami told him and rubbed his head again.  
  
"One question though. What do we do if there's an army of dead there," Jake asked.  
  
"We play exterminator, take out what we can, and deal with the rest any way we medial edge to," Shinigami told him and reloaded his trusty shotgun.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
For some reason or another, the Super 8 Motel had no zombies in the parking lot. That, was good, and at the same time, bad.  
  
Everybody piled out, and grabbed a weapon. Shinigami with his gun and a dozen shells in his pockets and a machete attached to his belt. Jake with his shotgun, and a small stash of ammo in his vest pocket. Ami, carrying the carbine she had picked up earlier. Salley carrying another rifle, and Sam was carrying the double headed axe.  
  
"Allright, the parking lot is empty. Let's get inside and make sure there aren't any deadheads in there. We exterminate the infestation, if any, and then secure all entrances and exits," Shinigami told them.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
The five remained in a close group as they entered the motel, staying ready to anything. "First we'll check all of the first floor, then we'll move up. If you find anybody, don't shoot unless they have green eyes, and a pale gray complexion, we can't afford to kill any innocent people," Shinigami told them. He took the lead and walked ahead, looking for anybody or anything that might be moving.  
  
Sam, Jake, and Ami and Salley split up, conducting a room to room search of the first floor. No room was left unexamined. One by one, each of them were checked, and found to be empty.  
  
Once the check was done, they met back in the lobby.  
  
"The first floor's safe, I didn't find anything, not even a puddle of blood," Jake told them.  
  
"Then let's move on to the second floor, and be careful," Shinigami told them and charged up the stairwell. Once the other four climbed the stairs, the fanned out again, performing another room to room search.  
  
Shinigami crept around, listening for anything that might be out of the ordinary. A dull groan suddenly sounded from one of the rooms, catching his attention. "I knew it was too good to be true." Shinigami reached for his shotgun, but quickly decided against it. He drew his machete, raising it into a striking form. With a mighty kick, the door to the room flew open. Standing there, arms outstretched, was a zombie, eyeing him like he was a blue plate special.  
  
"Sorry, the buffet's closed." Shinigami struck, planting the blade through the zombie's head, making it drop to the ground. "Where there's one, there's bound to be more." Shinigami walked over to the window and opened it. He took the zombie by the arms and picked it up, dropping it out of the second story window, letting it land on its head.  
  
"Things just keep getting better," Shinigami said to himself and wiped the machete off on the bed covers. But then, he looked out the window again. Several zombies were slowly approaching the motel, half way across the highway, "like I said, things just keep getting better."  
  
Shinigami charged out of the room and into the hall, yelling for the others to come right away. "People, we've got trouble, there's at least fifteen deadheads approaching, we can't let them get here, there could be more following them," he told them.  
  
"I'll take care of that, I was always a pretty good shot," Salley told them and walked to the room Shinigami had just come from. She looked out the window, aiming her rifle, trying to get a target on the zombies that were slowly approaching.  
  
"Now there's a big surprise. Anybody in public school has to be a good shot," Sam joked.  
  
"Fuck you. While she's taking care of that, let's finish the check. This floor's empty, let's get the third floor checked, and then we can secure the hotel," Jake told them.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
Out of a third floor window, a zombie had been shot out, courtesy of Shinigami. "That take's care of him. Did you two find anything," he asked.  
  
"No, I didn't see anybody," Ami told him.  
  
"Me neither, I think this hotel's been cleared out," Jake told him.  
  
"HIAYH!" Down the hall, Sam could be heard letting out a battle cry, and swinging his axe, making contact with something or other. "I got one," he yelled.  
  
"Well get rid of it. We don't need these things stinking up the hotel," Shinigami yelled.  
  
"I guess that clears out the hotel. Now what," Jake asked.  
  
"We should board up the first floor windows. But first I think we need to make a stop at the lumberyard and pick up some boards. Jake, you, Sam, and Salley take one of the vans, and get some wood so we can board up the place. The little girl and I will stay here and make sure the place is safe, just leave is some supplies and a few boxes of ammo," Shinigami told them.  
  
"Now hold it, we've been taking orders from you all night. Who put you in charge," Jake asked.  
  
"Me, you guys don't know enough about this situation, but I do. The only thing a chain of command does in situations like this is get you killed. We need to spend our time preparing ourselves so we don't fucking die here. Just go get the damn wood, gas up the vans, do something, just don't stand around flapping your gums," Shinigami yelled.  
  
"I think he's right, we need the wood. You and I are the strongest, and Salley can give us cover fire if we need it," Sam told him.  
  
"...I suppose you're right. But we'll move the supplies in first, we might need a lot of room," Jake told them.  
  
"Fine, Ami, go help Salley with cover fire. Don't shoot unless it staggers," Shinigami ordered as he set out back downstairs.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
Jake, Shinigami, and Sam charged outside, going over to the SUV's and began to unload armfuls of supplies, taking it back into the hotel and setting it in the lobby.  
  
The three ran back and forth trips, carrying in everything. This continued for twenty minutes, before the three were done. "Allright, Salley, get down here and get ready, we're heading to the lumberyard," Jake yelled.  
  
Salley came out two minutes later, carrying tow boxes of rifle and shotgun ammo with her. "Let's get there and get back here as fast as we can," she told them and hopped into the gray SUV.  
  
"Right, we'll be back," Sam told them.  
  
"Hold it, take these," Shinigami told them and handed each of them a walkie talkie and signal booster, "just in case," the told them.  
  
"Well come on let's move it, the longer we stand around, the greater a risk we're putting ourselves it," Jake told them.  
  
"We'll hold down the fort, just hurry the fuck up," Shinigami told them.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
Nothing was safe from the rampaging dead. Pet stores were broken into and the animals were eaten just like the people that were found were. Even the German Shepherds on the police force were treated like another snack.  
  
The deserted streets were being filled with the undead, and the bodies of poor unfortunate victims that were caught. Nothing stopped them; it seemed like every time one was taken down, ten more would come to take their place. Moans of hunger and pain were heard throughout the entire city.  
  
Cars and corpses had been scattered all over the streets. Building were burning, cars had exploded, and many zombies had been burnt to death. But no matter what, there just seemed to be no shortage of the undead, anywhere in the city.  
  
A loud horn honking was sounded down the highway. Several of the undead slowly turned, only to be run over by an SUV, sending them flying, followed by another four zombies up ahead.  
  
"Damn that was fun," the driver roared in excitement.  
  
"Just keep your eyes on the road Jake, we don't want to crash," Sam told him as he road shotgun.  
  
"That lumberyard is near here, somewhere or other," Jake told them and made a left turn.  
  
"I hope so. I don't like the thought of Ami being left alone with only Shinigami to protect her," Salley told them.  
  
"I wonder what that gothic bastard is doing right now," Jake asked them.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
"We're sorry, your call cannot be completed. Please hang up, and try your callat a later time."  
  
"God damn it," Shinigami yelled and slammed the phone handle down into the carriage as hard as he could. In a fit of unadulterated rage, he readied his shotgun, and blasted the phone to pieces.  
  
"Um, Mr. Shinigami," Ami spoke up.  
  
"What the fuck is it you brat," he yelled and turned to face her, pure evil appearing in his eyes. A look of fear appeared on her face. Never before had she been so scared in her life, not even when she had been attacked in the graveyard. "I, I'm sorry. I've just been trying to reach my mom, but I can't get her, and I'm worried," he told her, "now, what were you saying?"  
  
"I think there's more zombies coming this way, I could hear something outside," she told him as she shook in terror, still recovering from the rage she had seen.  
  
"Just great, you stay here, I'll deal with them," he told her. Two new shells were placed in the shotgun, which was soon re holstered. Shinigami then took the 12 gauge he had picked out earlier, and loaded it with the red shells.  
  
Shinigami stepped out of the motel, trying to see whatever was moving around outside. "If you're dead, moan once," he yelled. A collective groan had sounded, followed by the sounds of footsteps and feet shuffling about. "Stupid question," he said to himself. He removed a flashlight from his coat, and turned it on, shining it in the direction that the groans had come from.  
  
Ten zombies were slowly approaching. Some of them were fresh, while others had an advanced case of decay happening. "Terrific, old school meets new school." Shinigami raised the 12 gauge and fired, taking the head off of one zombie. In less than seven seconds, he had taken out a total of five zombies, but now realized he had run out of ammo.  
  
"Stupid dead pricks couldn't 've attack in neat lines could they? They just had to be mindless zombies," he said to himself as he reloaded the shotgun. He unloaded another four rounds, before all of them had stopped coming. "That's weird, I could've sworn there was another corpse around here somewhere," he said to himself.  
  
A loud, terror filled scream erupted from the motel, followed by several shots of gunfire. Shinigami dashed be inside, seeing that the one zombie that he had missed, was staggering towards Ami, who was shooting at him with her rifle, blowing multiple holes in his chest. "Shinigami help me," she screamed.  
  
Shinigami raised his shotgun, but put it down, the scatter of the buckshot would seriously hurt her. Instead, he tackled the zombie to the ground, and switch over to Dove on his back, holding it down. "Get me a hammer, now," he ordered.  
  
Ami reached into the supply pile and took out a straight claw hammer and gave it to him. Shinigami bent down, pulled back, and hit the zombie in the back of the head, resulting in a metallic pang. "Guy must've had a metal plate put in his head," he theorized.  
  
Shinigami cast the hammer aside and grabbed the zombie by the shoulders, throwing it out the door. He readied his shotgun, approaching the zombie, and holding the barrel, mere inches from its face. "So long." The blast tore the head to pieces, ripping it off the rest of the body.  
  
"These things are getting annoying. I've got an idea, Ami, give me a beer bottle and a lighter. We're gonna have ourselves a little bonfire," he told her.  
  
"What're you going to do," she asked as she brought him the requested equipment.  
  
"I'm gonna set these things in a pile, and burn them to ashes. And if more come along, I'll throw them on the pile too," he told her and dragged the corpse along with him.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
Shinigami had gathered up all of the corpses in the parking lot, and made a makeshift pile out of them. "Heh he heh, I love barbecue," he said to himself and doused the pile with the beer, leading a small trail several feet away. "Let there be light." He turned on the lighter, and carefully, lit the trail of beer, setting the piled of zombies ablaze in a huge bonfire.  
  
"That'll light up the place for sure," Shinigami laughed in a crazy way, "must've been a really high proof," he said to himself and walked back to the motel. "That oughta make it easier to see any deadheads that come this way."  
  
As if on cue, the groan of a deadhead could be heard from behind the two. They turned, and saw a zombie, slowly approaching them, its arms outstretched. "Must've gotten in through the back doors," Shinigami said to himself. He readied his shotgun and fired, but nothing happened. He suddenly realized that he hadn't reloaded the ammo. "I'll take care of that later," he said and cast it aside, as he drew his machete, ready to go melee.  
  
"Come and get me you maggot ranch. Nice, fresh, seasoned meat right here. Not too old, not too young, just right, USDA prime," Shinigami taunted and slowly made his way out the front door. The zombie began staggering toward him, leaving Ami along entirely.  
  
Shinigami made his way to the bonfire and made it within four feet of it. As the zombie got closer, he maneuvered around, and delivered a hard kick to the chest, knocking the zombie into the fire. "How do you like that? How does it feel being roasted," Shinigami asked sarcastically.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
"Finally, I thought we'd never get here," Jake sighed in relief, finally reaching the lumberyard. Jake threw the SUV into park and everybody got out, only then realizing what they were up against.  
  
Twenty, thirty, maybe even forty zombies were in and around the lumberyard. "Crap, this isn't good," Jake said to himself, "okay, Salley, if those things get too close, shoot them. We'll get the wood and then we'll get out of here," Jake told them.  
  
"Gotcha," she told him and cocked her rifle. Jake and Sam began piling precut lumber into the back of the SUV and onto the roof as well.  
  
"I hope this stuff is strong enough to keep the windows and doors from being broken down," Sam said as he piled more boards into the back.  
  
"They sure feel strong enough to me, nice and solid. What we need to worry about, is if the screws will hold them in place and not get ripped out of the walls," Jake told him.  
  
The two men continued to go back and forth, carrying as much wood as they could, and depositing it in the back of the SUV, and on the roof. Salley continued to shoot what zombies she could see with the headlights on, hoping that there wouldn't be any rear attacks, otherwise they wouldn't have much luck. "How much longer," she asked as she continued to pick off more zombies.  
  
"Not much, just a few more minutes and we should have enough wood," Jake told her. Salley took out two more zombies, before running out of ammo and needing to reload. Ten of the zombies slowly began to approach in a small group, moaning and groaning as they came closer.  
  
"Hey Jake, I have an idea, help me pick up that pole," Sam told him and ran over to a large wooden pole, seven feet long, and eight inches thick.  
  
"What've you got planned pal," Jake asked.  
  
"You'll see, just help me pick up this pole," Sam told him. The two grunted as they picked up the heavy wooden pole, managing to keep a good hold on it, "now, help me lift it higher, and get in front of the car," Sam told him.  
  
Though it seemed strange, the two managed to get this done. "Allright, you see what I'm getting at Jake," he asked.  
  
"...Yeah, I think I do, on the count of three. One, two, three!" Both men threw the pole at the zombies, knocking them down like bowling pins.  
  
"Allright, strike," the two yelled and high fived each other.  
  
"Are you guys done yet? We've got to get back to the motel before it's too late,"   
  
"Yeah, yeah we should have enough. Now we need to find a gas station and refuel. We can fill the cans in the back too, and use them for Molotov cocktails if we need to," Jake told them and got into the driver's seat.  
  
"Hold on," Sam told him and pulled the straps down tight, securing the boards on the roof so they wouldn't fall off, "okay let's get the hell outta here," he told them and got into the SUV.  
  
"Let's get back to the motel before that ass gets himself into anymore trouble," Salley told them.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
"I don't think it was worth it, dragging those corpses around to the front and throwing them on the fire," Shinigami said to himself as he loaded a black ammo belt full of the red shells, and strapping it on in an over the shoulder fashion.  
  
"Do you think the others are allright," Ami asked as she stood a few feet away from him.  
  
"I dunno kid, I dunno. I tried contacting them, but I think they forgot to turn on their walkie talkies," he told her as he started loading up a second ammo belt. "We got the back door locked and barricaded, the windows are storm glass types, so those are pretty strong, and I think we only have to worry about guarding the front door. That is unless Nemesis is out there," Shinigami said to himself.  
  
"Who," Ami asked.  
  
"Nemesis, one of the enemies in "Resident Evil 3: Nemesis". He's one tough bastard, he can take hundreds of rounds of ammo before he dies, and even after he dies, he comes back tougher than ever," Shinigami explained.  
  
"You, you don't think that we'll meet up with him do you," Ami asked nervously.  
  
"I doubt it, genetic engineering is nowhere near as advanced as it needs to be to build that sorry bastard. And even if it was, there's no reason for him to come here," Shinigami told her, "even if he did, I could deal with him. In the game I've dealt some good amounts of damage to him, even with small time weapons."  
  
"You have," she asked.  
  
"Yeah...right up until he tore me asunder and danced on my remains. It looked like some kind of Russian jig or something like that," he told her.  
  
Several bangs could be heard, coming from the front doors. Shinigami got to his feet, readying the pump action shotgun just in case. "Who is it," he asked. several groans were heard in response, "that's what I thought. Ami, guard the door, I'll deal with them on the outside. And remember, shoot at the head not the chest," he told her.  
  
Shinigami moved a chair in the lobby over to one of the windows and slid it open, and jumped outside. He walked around to the front, and saw several zombies trying to break down the doors, but without much success. Each of them were in hospital gowns, and looked recently dead.   
  
"Must be some that were infect from the gas," he theorized. He stepped out, making his way behind them, and whistled loudly, "hey boys, fresh meat! Come and get it, all you can eat for a buck and a quarter," Shinigami yelled. The three zombies turned and began approaching him, not realizing where they were being lead,  
  
"There's gonna be some major splatter with these guys," he said to himself, almost grinning ear to ear in a sick smile.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
a loud shot rang out as one of the zombies flew back, landing on the bonfire, adding more fuel to it.  
  
"Oh yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about baby, I give that a 8.5 out of 10 on the ol' "blood splat-o-meter", nobody's gonna top that," Shinigami laughed and quickly cocked his shotgun, ejecting the spent casing.  
  
He quickly drew his machete and swung it, cutting the throat of another zombie, leaping back as its blood gushed out like it was water from a fountain. "Aw that's beautiful," he said to himself, before blowing the zombies head off, splattering skull fragments and brain matter all over the parking lot.  
  
"And now for you," Shinigami said as he aimed his gun, and fired. The last zombie collapsed, its right leg had been blown right off, blood gushing out of the massive wound, spilling on the pavement. The zombie moaned and crawled towards Shinigami, only to get its left arm shot off as well, spilling even more blood.  
  
"You fresh guys are sure big bleeders when you're punctured," Shinigami commented and readied his machete again. He swung hard, cutting through the zombie's skull and into the brain, killing it without much bloodshed from the most recent of the wounds.  
  
"I really hate these fuckin' stiffs," he said to himself. He set down his weapons and began dragging one of the two corpses, and throwing it onto the pile, soon setting it ablaze, just like the others.  
  
"And now you." Shinigami took the zombie by the one good arm, and pulled it as close to the fire as he could with setting himself on fire as well. "Hmmm, guess I'll have to improvise." Shinigami picked up his machete, and amputated the remaining arm, using it as a makeshift torch, and toasting the zombie.  
  
As Shinigami was about to go back inside, a loud honking could be heard, as something pulled into the parking lot. And that could be only one thing.  
  
"Dude, what's with the freakin' bonfire," Sam asked as he slammed the car door shut.  
  
"It lights up the place, and we don't have to bother with finding places to stash the zombies after we eliminate them. Plus, it's fun as hell to do," Shinigami told him, "did you guys get the lumber," he asked.  
  
"Plenty, and fifteen gallons of spare gasoline," Jake told him.  
  
"Good, now let's board up the place and secure it for tonight. Then we'll see the cable's working so we can find out if there's any news on the situation," Shinigami told them and grabbed several boards and carried then into the hotel.  
  
"Well, you heard him. Follow the asshole," Jake told them.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
An hour had passed by; the windows had been secured very well. Boards were nailed and screwed into the walls, covering the windows securely. The back door had been locked, and boarded up, as well as barricaded.  
  
The chain had been wrapped around the handles to the front door and locked with two heavy duty locks. Boards were nailed and screwed to the two doors, preventing them from being pushed open easily.  
  
"Now what should we do," Sam asked.  
  
"Help me push this front desk in front of the door," Shinigami yelled. Salley, Sam, and Jake went over and helped him push the desk in front of the door, helping barricade it and prove even more difficult to open. "Damn that thing is heavy. It's gonna take a lot to push that door open," Shinigami commented.  
  
"Yeah, now what," Jake asked.  
  
"I say we watch the boob tube and see how far this epidemic has spread," Sam announced.  
  
"Now we just have to hope that the cable still works," Shinigami told them.  
  
The five went to the second floor and went to one of the rooms, sitting down and turned on the TV. At first, there was only static on every channel. But then, a news program appeared.  
  
"Attention, attention everyone in the state of Kansas. At approximately 4:40 P.M. today, an unknown chemical agent escaped when a tanker truck overturned. An estimated 3,000 citizens were quickly infected by some unknown disease and were admitted to the hospital. Some hours later, reports had been released that the infected, had turned into cannibals, as one of the patients killed a doctor by biting into his neck, shredding the jugular vein. A single nurse managed to escape, but just barely," the news reporter announced.  
  
"Yeah, there's a fuckin' news break," Shinigami replied sarcastically, earning a loud "Shh" from everybody.  
  
"These patients have escaped the hospital, and have, by now, possibly overrun all of Concordia. If you're a resident of Concordia, try and avoid these patients at all costs. They've been reported as having, flooded green eyes, and pale, gray skin. They're slow, and clumsy, and seem incapable of coherent speech, only capable of communicating through moaning," the reporter continued.  
  
"This is horse shit, nothing but horse shit! We know those things are zombies, and these guys are trying to cover it up," Shinigami shouted and turned the TV off, "let's move the supplies up here, then we'll secure the halls and stairwell so we can get some sleep," he told them and walked out of the room.  
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
"Explain it to me again, why are we taking the supplies to the third floor," Salley asked.  
  
"Because we're up higher, giving more time for safety if the place is breached by those creatures," Jake explained as they carried the last of the supplies upstairs to the third floor.  
  
"Hey, where'd Shinigami go to," Sam asked.  
  
"He said something about booby trapping the stairs for safety," Jake told him.  
  
"Actually, it's already been taken care of. Right now there's approximately three or four thousand ball bearings scattered on the floor and stairs. Nobody's getting up here unless they can climb the walls," Shinigami told them.  
  
"Ball bearings? Shinigami you're an evil bastard. Imagine if those things actually broke in and they started slipping and sliding around down there," Salley laughed.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, now enough talk. It's almost midnight and we need our rest. It's too dark to see those things. In the morning we can search for survivors and see what we're fighting," Shinigami told them, "now, if anybody's hungry, get something to eat," he told them.  
  
"After seeing the carnage that I've seen, I'm not hungry, I'm going to rest," Jake told them and laid down on the bed, not bothering to remove his shoes or anything.  
  
"That sounds good, I'll see you in the morning," Sam told them and left, but not before grabbing a box of powdered sugar donuts and his axe.  
  
"I think we'll turn in too," Salley told them. She grabbed a bag of nachos, and a box of granola bars, and left the room with Ami following, carrying the two rifles and two boxes of ammo.  
  
"I hope those guys remember to lock their door," Shinigami said to himself and closed the door to the room. He locked the door, then sat down, leaning against it, clutching his shotgun.  
  
"Hey Shinigami, why didn't you choose another room," Jake asked wearily.  
  
"No reason, one room's as good as any other. Now get some sleep before I return the favor and club you," Shinigami told him.  
  
"Whatever," Jake mumbled and threw a pillow at Shinigami's head.  
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
The small group of survivors has survived the first few hours of this hell on Earth, but will they make it through the night? And if they do, what awaits them in the morning? Keep checking back to find out in the next installment, "Day Two". 


	2. Day Two

Day Two  
  
Author's Note: I'd just like to say that I'm sorry for the long delay, but lately I've had a case a writer's block that would stop a bullet train. With college and everything else in my life I don't have that much free time for writing.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
Morning couldn't come soon enough. Nobody was capable of sleeping very well at all. Falling asleep was hard, and being able to stay asleep was even more troublesome. The only one who managed to get s decent night's rest was Shinigami, still leaning against the door, wearing his ammo belts, and clutching his shotgun, holding it close to him.  
  
Jake yawned and stretched out, sitting up on the bed. He looked around, seeing that he was still in the ugly looking room, and Shinigami, still sleeping against the door. "How's that guy do it, especially with those shells," he asked himself, "oh well might as well wake him up. Hey Shinigami, morning!"  
  
Shinigami grunted, continuing to snore, paying absolutely no never mind to Jake.   
  
"This could be tough," he said to himself, "hey Shinigami, get your lazy ass up or else!" Shinigami awoke with a start and trained his shotgun on Jake's head, nearly squeezing the trigger and blowing his brains out.  
  
"God damnit man, don't say that! Do you have any idea how close you came to having your fuckin' head blown off! That's the exact same thing my dad yelled when I was asleep," Shinigami yelled and stood up.  
  
"Sorry about that, you didn't wake up the first time," Jake told him, "how could you sleep, leaning against that door, and with those belts of ammo on," he asked.  
  
"I use to sleep with my back against a radiator, if you can get use to that, you can sleep anywhere," Shinigami told him and stretched.  
  
"Do I even wanna know," Jake asked.  
  
"No," Shinigami replied calmly, after a moment of searching, he pulled out a small package and a metal lighter.  
  
"I never knew you smoked, when'd you pick up that bad habit," Jake asked.  
  
Shinigami simply ignored him as he took one of the cigarettes and proceeded to light it, before taking a drag from it.  
  
"Don't you know that's bad for you," Jake asked, receiving a puff of smoke in his face.  
  
"Dry up, chances are I'm gonna wind up dead before this whole event is over, it's not like it'll make any difference," Shinigami replied, before taking another drag from his cigarette.  
  
"That's crazy," Jake told him.  
  
"So are you. Now fuck off and go wake everybody up," Shinigami ordered.  
  
"Me, why me," Jake asked.  
  
"Because if you don't I'll neuter you, without anesthetic," Shinigami replied and drew a black survival knife from a sheath on his belt, holding it less than an inch from Jake's manhood.  
  
"You wouldn't," Jake replied, sounding nervous.  
  
"I would, or maybe I'll heat my knife first. Then maybe the blade will cauterize the wound, that way you won't bleed to death," Shinigami told him, looking as serious as the day was long.  
  
"I think I'll go wake the others up," Jake replied and quickly decided to exit the room, colliding with the door in the process, "hey who locked the door!"  
  
"I did, remember? Now move it before I get violent," Shinigami ordered.  
  
"Bastard," Jake muttered as he unlocked the door.  
  
"Asshole," Shinigami replied.  
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
The small group of survivors had gathered together, and were having a makeshift breakfast, consisting of poptarts, slimjims, doughnuts, granola bars, and for Shinigami, nothing but coffee.  
  
"So, does anybody have any brilliant idea on what we're going to do today," Salley asked as she scarfed down a doughnut.  
  
"I think the first thing we need to do is see how wide this zombie problem goes. If it's just Concordia or if it's state wide," Jake suggested.  
  
"If not further. We very well could be the last humans in all of America," Shinigami replied as he leaned against the wall and drank his coffee.  
  
"Oh, and you've got a better plan," Jake asked.  
  
"Cut the bullshit, fearless leader. You know very well that we all want to make sure our families are safe, and you're no different," Shinigami told him.  
  
"I have to agree with Dr. Death over there. I wanna make sure my dad's not one of those things," Sam added.  
  
"And my grandma's in town, she'd be easy picking for those walking dead out there," Sally added.  
  
"Hmm, you do have a point," Jake stated.  
  
"Other than the ones on their heads," Shinigami stated and downed the rest of his coffee, "so it's settled. First we'll make sure our families are safe, and then we'll rendezvous at the Super Wal-Mart in, let's say four hours."  
  
"Why Wal-Mart, and why four hours," Jake asked.  
  
"Four hours should give us enough time to check our homes. And there are some things we forgot to pick up last night. Things that we could use to fight off the zombie hordes," Shinigami explained.  
  
"I hate it when you're right," Jake stated.  
  
"And I hate you no matter what," Shinigami replied.  
  
"Do you think my parents might be okay," Ami asked quietly.  
  
"I don't think so. You said your parents were attacked and you ran, so it's a good possibility that they're zombies as well," Shinigami told her.  
  
"A-are you sure," Ami asked.  
  
"Regrettably, yes, I'm very sure of it," Shinigami replied.  
  
"Have some compassion you bastard, don't get her anymore upset than she already is," Sally yelled and stood up to face him.  
  
"Look, like isn't peaches and cream, and there's no use sugar coating anything. The fact of the matter is they're dead," Shinigami yelled.  
  
"Mommy, daddy," Ami managed to say before she began to cry hard.  
  
"Nice going, now see what you've done," Sam yelled and swung for his head.  
  
Shinigami ducked, grabbed Sam from behind and put him in an effective half nelson.  
  
"Now look, everybody's going to grow up sooner or later, and now's a good a time as any! You can't be weak or else you'll wind up as a side of ground round for those things," Shinigami explained.  
  
Jake angrily stood up and threw Shinigami against one of the walls, staring him in the eyes.  
  
"Why are you such a bastard," he said through grit teeth.  
  
"My father, he forced me to become what I am today! Have you ever been molested and abused by somebody ten times stronger than you? Do you know what it's like to try and fight back, and all the time he's laughing at how weak you are! I had to become what I am today I had no choice! If I didn't become tough I never would've survived," Shinigami explained.  
  
Jake slowly backed away from him, letting him away from the wall.  
  
"I'm sorry man, I didn't know," Jake apologized.  
  
"Save the apologies for somebody who would care. There are only two things for me to do here. Find my mother, and eliminate as many of those walking corpses as possible," Shinigami told him and grabbed his two shotguns.  
  
"Okay, Salley, you take Ami with you, Shinigami, you're coming with Sam and myself," Jake stated.  
  
"No," Shinigami replied.  
  
"What," Jake asked.  
  
"I said no. I'm going by myself, I don't' want to be trapped with you two idiots," Shinigami told him.  
  
"If you think we're letting you take one of the vans---"  
  
"I don't need one of your vans. When you three were picking up wood for the barricades, I found a jeep out back. There's gas in it and I'll take that to get home," he explained.  
  
"Whatever, just go. Wherever you go you bring death with you," Sam told him.  
  
"It'll be a pleasure to get away from you. All I need is my share of the ammo, a couple machetes, and then I'm going," Shinigami replied and walked over to the pile of supplies on the floor.  
  
"Sam, grab one of those crowbars, we should get those boards off the front door so we can get out of here," Jake ordered.  
  
"Right boss," Sam replied in a mock Chico dialect.  
  
"Hold it," Salley ordered.  
  
"What," Jake asked.  
  
"Check the windows first, see if we've got a mob out there," she replied.  
  
"Leave it to a woman to use common sense," Shinigami muttered.  
  
"It's actually a good idea," Sam replied.  
  
"Well then go check it out," Jake ordered.  
  
Sam nodded and charged dashed out of the room, heading for one that would have a window that overlooked the parking lot and front doors.  
  
"W-what do we do if they are surrounding the front," Ami asked as she started to calm down.  
  
"Shoot our way through, what else. If we had oil of laundry detergent we could throw Molotov cocktails and burn them all," Shinigami replied as he made sure that he grabbed the correct ammo.  
  
"Why not just throw the beer," Salley asked.  
  
"Too thin, it'll burn up too quick. The oil thickens it, giving it more burning power so it's even hotter," Shinigami explained.  
  
"And how the hell would you know that," Jake asked.  
  
"I studied pyrotechnics," he replied.  
  
"Guys, we've got visitors," Sam stated as he charged back into the room.  
  
"How many zombies are out there," Shinigami asked.  
  
"A group of fifteen, that's all I can see," Sam replied.  
  
"Shouldn't be too hard to deal with. Whichever of you has a free hand, get me a pressurized spray can of something, deodorant, hairspray, whatever you can find," Shinigami ordered and took his shotgun, heading for the room Sam came from.  
  
"What good is that gonna do," Jake asked.  
  
"Just do it damnit," Shinigami ordered.  
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
The small crowd of the undead moaned as they pounded against the front doors, trying to get into the hotel. The barricaded doors held strong, but eventually even they would give in.  
  
Shinigami sighed as he watched the scene below. It was truly one of the more pitiful sights that he had ever seen.  
  
"Of all the God damned cities in the world, why did it have to happen here," he muttered as he waited for one of the others to bring the cans as he asked for, "what's taking them so long?"  
  
"Allright, I found...one can of hairspray, and one can of spray on deodorant. What are we gonna do with them," Sam asked as he charged into the room.  
  
"Shake 'em up real good, then throw one down," Shinigami explained.  
  
Even though it sounded crazy, Sam proceeded to shake both cans vigorously, the sound of the metal ball and the contents inside mixing violently, until the sounds were extremely muffled.  
  
"That's as much as I can do it," Sam told him.  
  
"It'll do," Shinigami said as he took the hairspray can and threw it down at the crowd, "now for the catalyst."  
  
Shinigami aimed his shotgun for where the can had hit and fired. When the buckshot hit the can it exploded like a bomb, throwing torn aluminum in every direction and causing a massive fireball, engulfing all of the zombies.  
  
"Groovy," Sam stated in surprise.  
  
"Now, you and Jake get down there and open the door, and make sure you watch out for the ball bearings," Shinigami ordered.  
  
"Right boss," Sam replied and ran out of the room.  
  
"Why couldn't he have been Faker," Shinigami said to himself and shook his head in disgust.  
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
"That crazy fool actually used the cans as bombs to set them on fire," Jake asked as he and Sam carefully raced down the stairs, avoiding the ball bearings, to get to the front doors.  
  
"Yeah, that crazy bastard is actually intelligent," Sam replied.  
  
As the two reached the downstairs, it was quite easy to notice Shinigami's handiwork. There were ball bearings all over the floor, making it almost impossible to get anywhere without slipping.  
  
"Isn't that overkill," Sam asked.  
  
"Probably, but I'm not gonna tell him that," Jake replied as he tried to sweep the bearings away with his foot to clear a path.  
  
Once enough of the ball bearings were cleared away, the two managed to shove the heavy front desk away from the doors, letting them pry the boards off of the doors.  
  
"Oh God what's that smell," Sam yelled.  
  
"Yeah I smell it too, ugh, that must be what death smells like," Jake replied and pulled his shirt up to cover his nose.  
  
"Burnt death! Ew, the other ones never smelt like this! They must've been dead longer," Sam stated as he tried to avoid getting sickened by the smell.  
  
"Imagine if the scent rises, Shingami must be sickened to death by that!"  
  
Despite the smell the two continued to pull the boards off the doors. Once the boards were removed, the locks were undone and the chains were removed, letting them open the doors.  
  
The smell outside was so vile they were literally thrown back by it, making them slip on the ball bearings.  
  
Sam struggled to get back up, but was forced to crawl on the ground over to a potted plant and throw up in it. Jake gagged violently, but managed to keep his breakfast down.  
  
"God that stinks," Jake yelled as he managed to get back to his feet.  
  
"Very nauseating," Sam stated as he finally managed to stand up and wipe his mouth.  
  
"Hey, look out there! All fifteen of them, charred wrecks," Jake stated and pointed outside.  
  
"That bastard. That crazy sick bastard, he took them all out by himself," Sam yelled.  
  
"You're making a big deal of nothing. Fifteen corpses aren't really that big of a deal."  
  
The two turned and saw Shinigami, coming down the stairs with a large toolbox and a pair of spare machetes under his arm, with his strapped to his belt, his basic shotgun in the leg holster, and the secondary strapped on his back.  
  
"I wish you'd quit that," Jake stated.  
  
"Quit what?"  
  
"Acting like you've got everything under control. Because believe me pal, I know you're scared shitless," Jake told him.  
  
"Me, scared? Don't be crazy, I'm too angry to be scared. One thing that I've always feared would happen, did happen. And now it's up to me to clean up the mess," Shinigami explained.  
  
"Mr. Mightier than thou," Sam whispered.  
  
"Fuck off. Get the girls and go wherever the hell you're going," he ordered.  
  
"Wait a minute, I just thought of something. What if the jeep doesn't have any keys," Sam asked.  
  
"You think something like no keys is going to stop me? You don't know me very well, I was elected "King of Detention" and "Juvenile Hall Veteran" for nothing," he said with an odd smirk before turning to leave.  
  
"That guy creeps the hell outta me," Jake whispered.  
  
"Me too," Sam replied.  
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
Shinigami glanced around carefully, making sure there were no zombies in the vicinity. So far everything was safe. He made his way around to the back of the hotel, carrying his supplies in one hand and under one arm, keeping his other hand free in case of an emergency.  
  
"I guess those fifteen were the only ones here," he said to himself as he walked around back, "never say something like that in a situation like this."  
  
A large group of zombies had gathered around back, groaning and moaning as they staggered closer to the building, their flooded green eyes not blinking as the drew ever closer.  
  
"Shit, and they're cutting off my way to the jeep, now what," he asked himself, before smiling wickedly, "I never could resist a good fight."  
  
Reaching to his side, Shinigami drew his machete, advancing toward the horde of zombies, easily sidestepping them as he made his way to the jeep, dropping his supplies in the back seat.  
  
"And now, the fun can begin," he said with the evilest of laughs.  
  
Shinigami drew the two machetes, grinning evilly as he charged, swinging wildly with the skill of a master. One zombie after another fell to the ground as its head was either severed, or one of the blades found its way into their target's skull.  
  
One after another after another after another fell, until Shinigami was the last one standing, panting and sweaty from exerting himself. Although machetes were easier to use than an axe, overtime it they could exhaust you just as well.  
  
"Hard to believe, I never knew taking out thirty zombies with just two machetes would be so challenging," Shinigami said to himself.  
  
He wiped his forehead and went back to the jeep, ready to head home. But after an examination he found that there weren't any keys to be found.  
  
"Crap. Oh well, my skills were getting rusty anyway," he said to himself and ripped off the underside of the dashboard, exposing the wires. He tore several wires away and began to strip the coating off of them, exposing the bare copper, allowing him to splice them together, until he heard the sound of the engine roar.  
  
"Ha, wonderful. Home, here I come, mom I hope you're safe, I'm coming," he said to himself started to maneuver the jeep out of the back lot, "might as well see what manure's being shoveled today," he said as he turned on the radio.  
  
"We repeat, the infestation in Concordia, that was thought to be citizens infected with some new and dangerous strain of virus, has turned out to be the undead. That's right, all reports indicate that the infected citizens are the dead who have somehow returned the life," the reporter stated.  
  
"That's a shocking development," Shinigami said to himself.  
  
"It may seem impossible to believe but it's true, the dead have somehow returned to life and are now roaming the small town of Concordia. This news has been discovered only a few short hours ago. When doctors attempted to examine the infected citizens who were dead they discovered that they had been dead for much longer. What doctors can't determine is how the dead were brought back to life, they're trying to determine this now as we speak," the reporter continued.  
  
"The army, that's how, they created this gas, and they brought these dead guys back," Shinigami muttered.  
  
"If anyone out there is listening to this broadcast, if you encounter any of the dead, avoid them at all cost, a single bite will kill a healthy person within two hours. If you're trapped and have no way to get out, the dead can be stopped by a severe blow to the head, or being shot through the head. We repeat, any trauma to the brain will stop the dead and put them back to re---"  
  
"At least they're telling the truth now instead of trying to cover it up," Shinigami said as he turned off the radio.  
  
He pressed down on the accelerator, avoiding the wrecked cars as he went on his way.  
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
Across town more than a hundred zombies wandered around, staggering, looking for food. Many of them banged on the doors and windows of the empty buildings, hoping to find something to eat. They were starving and they wanted food, now!  
  
Overturned cars were being shoved out of the way as the dead fought to get to wherever they could find a meal. Nothing in the area was safe from them, and nothing would be.  
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
"Damn, this place is a war zone, Salley stated as she looked around as she drove through the streets.  
  
Everywhere she looked were fires, overturned cars, broken windows in the buildings, and dead bodies along the street.  
  
"Do you think we'll be safe," Ami asked nervously.  
  
"We should, we've got plenty of ammo. Plus, I know karate," Salley replied.  
  
"That's good to know," Ami replied as she clutched her rifle closer to her.  
  
"You don't have to worry, my home's only a few blocks away, we'll be safe there," Salley told her as she turned the corner.  
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
"Damn, a roadblock. How'd they manage to overturn three cars like that," Sam asked.  
  
"I don't know, I guess we'll just have to find a way around it," Jake replied.  
  
"Uh, I think we got trouble, look out the rear mirror," Sam stated and pointed out the back.  
  
Jake turned around in his seat and saw what Sam was referring to. A large group of zombies had found easily surrounded the escape route and was growing closer by the second.  
  
"Those guys look faster than the others," Sam said in fear.  
  
"Rigor mortis probably hasn't affected them, it probably wore off and their joints aren't frozen," Jake said as he reached for his shotgun.  
  
"Wha' do we do?"  
  
"What else ya jackass? Kill 'em," Jake replied and exited the driver seat, opening fire.  
  
"When in Rome. Tallyho," Sam yelled and grabbed his axe.   
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
Across town, Shinigami wasn't doing any better. His jeep was surrounded by zombies, making it impossible to drive through them. He stood on the hood of the jeep, getting as high as he could to avoid them, but every time he shot one, another seemed to take its place.  
  
"What I wouldn't give right now for an M-16. Or one of the many different machine guns that's belt fed ammo," he said to himself before shooting another zombie dead.  
  
As he aimed to shoot another, he realized that he had run out of ammo, and needed to reload his shotgun, leaving himself vulnerable. One of the many zombies growled as it grabbed his ankle, trying to bite into his calf, but only received a crushed forehead from his other shoe.  
  
"That does it, when I get home I'm getting my boots for some serious ass kicking," he roared and replaced his shotgun, drawing his two foot long machetes once again, "time for the whole sale slaughter. The Grim Reaper comes to reap a new harvest of the dead."  
  
Shinigami crouched and leapt off the hood, performing a corkscrew maneuver and coming down outside of the circle. With a wave of rage he swung and spun, cutting right through the horde. Heads, hands, fingers, even entire upper bodies fell as he let loose one slice after another.  
  
As the last zombie approached, Shinigami could see that it was very decayed, at least two months old and very decayed. He sneered, and swung both machetes wildly, before finally stopping. The zombie stood with a blank look on its face, not moving an inch. Until its fingers fell off, followed by the hands, arms, and the rest of the body, collapsing in a giant heap of old flesh and bones.  
  
"Finally, now to get home," he said to himself and sat back down in the jeep again.  
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
Salley put on the breaks hard, stopping in front of a zombie army roaming the streets. And from the look of it, there were a lot of them, each coming for the van now.  
  
"What're we gonna do now," Ami asked in pure terror.  
  
Salley remained silent for a long while, considering her options on how to handle the situation. She then smiled evilly, almost as bad as Shinigami.  
  
"We plow right through them! Buckle up Ami, this is gonna be bumpy!"  
  
Salley threw the van into four wheel drive, slamming her foot down on the accelerator and charging forward, tearing through the dead, flattening them and tearing them apart.  
  
"Piece of cake. Now, onward and homeward," Salley cheered as she turn another corner and continued on.  
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
"Damn, those things were tough," Sam breathed as he leaned against the van, resting the axe head on the street asphalt.  
  
"Yeah, I hope they're not mutating or something. If they get like those "Return of the Living Dead" zombies we're in for some real trouble," Jake replied as he reloaded his shotgun, "I wish I got a pump action like Shinigami did, this double barreled thing is only so useful."  
  
"Yeah. Well, no use staying around here anymore, let's get going, our parents aren't going to get found themselves," Sam stated as he moved back into the passenger side, dragging his axe with him.  
  
"The next time we run into a batch of them, I'm gonna run over them," Jake said as he threw the van into reverse, backing over the recently once again deceased corpses.  
  
"Do you think everybody else is having as much trouble as we are," Sam asked.  
  
"Who knows," Jake replied as he turned and went down another street, angered that every direct route was blocked.  
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
"Fuck it! Another one, how many overturned cars am I going to encounter before I get home," Shinigami cursed angrily, "downtown is the worst mess I've ever seen. Signs broken, cars overturned, bodies everywhere, and roadblocks keeping me from getting home. Everywhere I look, life sucks worse than ever before!"  
  
A string of noncoherent profanities came from him as he threw the jeep into reverse and started to back up. But before he could leave, something leapt onto the hood of the car. It was a dog, a Doberman. A bleeding, snarling Doberman, with a hole through its chest and its face clawed off, exposing its red stained teeth.  
  
"Zombie dogs, I should've known, the next vile monster I encounter will most likely be the Licker," he said as he drew his shotgun.  
  
The zombie dog barked and charged, fast. It snarled and bared its teeth even more as it leapt, ready to tear into Shinigami's flesh, but only receiving a load of buckshot, tearing its head off.  
  
"They just had to be fast, and I just had to be the guy who they come after," he said as he stopped the jeep, "am I ever going to get home? Do I have to kill every dead thing to get back home, is that how it is? If so, then so be it! Any of you worm bags wanna piece of me! Well come and get it, here I am!"  
  
No sooner did he speak, did he notice that another group of the living dead, both humans and dogs surrounded him.  
  
"Spectacular, just fuckin' spectacular."  
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
The green van slowly pulled up to the driveway of a one story house, the siding consisting of white painted wood and a good shingling job on the roof. The garage was in desperate need of a good paint job, and the grass looked poor because of the recent drought in the state.  
  
"Home sweet home," Ami said as he put the van into park and unlocked her door, "Ami, you stay here, I'll go check out the house and see if anybody's in there."  
  
"Okay, be careful," Ami told her as she checked the lock on her door.  
  
Salley opened the door and stepped out, carefully looking around. Nothing for at least a block, and with the zombie's walking speed, it would be at least fifteen minutes until she had to worry about them. She dashed over to the door and turned the knob, meeting with resistance. It was locked.  
  
"Figures," she said as she drew a key from her pocket and inserted it.  
  
She tried again, but couldn't get the door open at all; it was being blocked by something. Seeing no other alternative, she gave a mighty kick, forcing the door open enough to let her slip in.  
  
The first thing she noticed when she stepped in was a strange smell, like month old sweat socks. She pulled her shirt up to cover her nose and carefully walked through the house.  
  
"They've gotta be here somewhere. Mom! Dad! Are you here," she called out, not getting any answer, and that couldn't be good, the house wasn't big enough for them not to hear her, unless they were in the basement.  
  
She went to the door that lead to the basement, listening for anything. She heard shuffling down below, which meant somebody had to be down there. She tried to push the door open, but the door was stuck, and that was bad. The outside lock was undone, and with no lock on the inside, the door must've been barricaded. And without a chainsaw, she wouldn't be getting down there without a real struggle.  
  
"Damnit, just perfect, and dad doesn't have a chainsaw, and neither do the neighbors. Maybe I can use to crowbar in the garage," she said and turned, coming face to face with a frightening zombie.  
  
She was pushed against the door, using her gun to keep it away from her. Whoever this thing use to be, it was still tough, very tough. As she fought back Salley could see something familiar about this zombie. Her eyes widened in horror as she suddenly knew who she was fighting. It was none other than her own father!  
  
"Dad, oh no, they got to you too," she said, ready to cry.  
  
But instead she fought back harder now, knowing that it was too later for him now. But as tough as he was, her father was tougher. She threw a devastating kick to his knee, shattering the bone, allowing her to push him back enough to level the carbine with his head.  
  
"Sorry dad, but there's no other choice," she stated and pulled the trigger, dropping her father, but ten feet behind him was another person Salley knew, her mother, her right arm chewed off at the elbow.  
  
Through teary eyes, she fired another shot, stopping her mother as well. She fell to her knees and began to cry; realizing that she was alone now. But then a scream brought her back to reality, she charged outside, seeing what caused Ami to scream.  
  
"Oh God," she exclaimed in pure terror.  
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
"You know, we are the biggest idiots in this town," Sam stated.  
  
"Hey," Jake shouted.  
  
"I'm serious here! Our parents both have cellphones, why don't we just call them and see if they're okay," Sam asked.  
  
"I tried that already, nobody would answer. We've gotta do it the hard way and look," Jake told him.  
  
"Shit, nothing good ever happens around here," Sam cursed.  
  
"I know, life just seems to get worse, never better," Jake replied.  
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
After a long, long time of fighting, Shinigami finally reached his home. A two story farmhouse with vinyl siding, gray sandy shingles, a large picture window on the front of the house and circular window on the second story, and like everywhere else, bad grass from lack of rain.  
  
"Home sweet home," he said as he stepped out of his jeep.  
  
He dug around in the toolboxes and reloaded the empty spaces in his ammo belts before approaching the house. He could see that the front window was boarded up from the inside, indicating that an attack had happened here. And further proof, dead bodies littering the lawn, each of them having their head almost completely blown off.  
  
"Mom's been busy."  
  
Shinigami walked over to the house and opened the screen door, but found that he couldn't get the wooden door, it was locked tight, and most likely boarded up as well.  
  
"Should've known."  
  
Using the metal tab on the screen door he used it to hold it open. He pulled his leg back into a high kicking position and let his foot fly near the doorknob, not making it budge an inch.  
  
"I should've guessed so. Maybe the windows aren't boarded up."  
  
Shinigami walked around the right side of the house and saw that the windows weren't boarded up. It made sense since they were higher than all the other windows; not many zombies would be able to jump through them without a ladder to climb up.  
  
He smirked as he drew his shotgun and fired two shots into the first window, completely taking it out. Once that was done, he calmly walked to the edge of the yard, turned, and charged back, leaping through the opening and doing a midair summersault, landing in the living room.  
  
"Step one complete. Time for step two, locate mom."  
  
Shinigami stepped through the house, looking around carefully, keeping his machete drawn and ready for anything. He carefully moved to the closet of the dining room and opened it, leaping back just in case. He flicked on the lights and carefully looked in, seeing that the closet was empty. He then moved to the kitchen, and moved to the refrigerator and looked around inside, grabbing a can of Dr. Pepper and chugging it down.  
  
"That's better," he said and discarded the empty can, "now, back to business."  
  
Shinigami pushed the back room's door open and looked around, finding it empty as well. He then moved through the small hall that lead from the kitchen, over to the basement door, which was locked from the outside, meaning nobody was down there.  
  
He then turned around and faced the bathroom door. As he reached forward to pull the handle, the door burst open, throwing his back against the basement door.  
  
Sparks and the clang of clashing metal flew as Shinigami brought his machete up, stopping the other from hitting his face. His attacker wasn't quite as tall as he was, only about 5' 6", but they still possessed a good amount of strength. Whoever his attacker was they were taking good care not to expose any part of their body. The person's eyes were hidden by welding goggles and their face was masked with thick black material. A leather trench coat and leather gloves covered the upper body, while the lower body was covered in black boots and the lower half of the coat helped protect the person's legs.  
  
Shinigami pushed back with his machete, forcing his attacker back, allowing him to draw his shotgun from his leg holster, making the person raise their hands and drop the weapon.  
  
"Now, tell me who the fuck you are before I splatter you all over the damned wall," Shinigami growled.  
  
"Watch your mouth young man," the person stated in a voice that sounded very familiar.  
  
The person reached and undid the black cloth, letting their long dark hair fall, followed by the welding goggles, revealing a Japanese woman with purple eyes that matched Shinigami's perfectly.  
  
"Mom! It's so good to see you," he stated as he dropped his weapons and hugged the woman tightly.  
  
"I'm glad to see you too, I was worried about you when those things started to attack," the woman said as she hugged him back.  
  
"You see, I told you I should've stayed home. I knew something bad would've happened if I went with those stupid people on their camping trip," Shinigami told her, "but enough talk, on to business."  
  
"Business? What business," she asked.  
  
"I came to make sure you were safe. And once I get some necessary equipment I'm going out and destroying every zombie I encounter."  
  
"Son you can't do that, it's too dangerous," she stated.  
  
"I have to, I may be the only one who can do anything about it. Half of the town was infected with some kind of zombifying gas, and that rainstorm from last night caused it to seep into the ground and resurrect the corpses that were buried. Those three kids I was stuck with, a kid we found, and myself are the only ones out there that can handle them," Shinigami explained.  
  
"I still can't let you go out there, it's too dangerous, you could get killed. You could wind up as one of those things," she replied.  
  
"Dangerous? I've fought my way through over fifty zombies to get to you to make sure you were safe. I've killed thirty of them with just machetes, I can handle them. And if necessary, I'll take them all out by myself!"  
  
"...You've always been that way, I never could talk sense into you when you thought you had to do something right," she told him.  
  
"Never have, never will," he laughed, before turning serious, "get some supplies, you're coming with me."  
  
"Where are we going?"  
  
"I'll tell you when we get there. You get some necessities, I'm gonna change and get some more weapons," he told her as he picked up his machete and shotgun, "could you explain why you attacked me like that?"  
  
"I wanted to make sure you weren't an intruder trying to raid the place. Thank God it's you," she replied.  
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
"I don't like the idea, you and four other teenagers fighting a nightmare like this," Shinigami's mother stated from the other side of the closed door that lead to his room.  
  
"I don't like it either, but as far as I know we're the only ones who can save this shitty town. I'm sure as hell not gonna wait for the God damned military to come in and clean up this mess, they'll make it worse than it already is," he shouted through the door.  
  
"I think I know what you mean. The army doing something right is an oxymoron. But what chance do you and four others stand," she asked.  
  
"A very good chance! My small group has handled enough zombies to fill a small cemetery," he stated.  
  
"You're kidding."  
  
"I ain't lying. Believe it or not, zombies aren't as tough as they look in the movies. At least not the ones I've handled yet. Except for the dogs."  
  
"What dogs?"  
  
"Dobermans, I encountered fifteen of them as I came back here. They're fast, like in "Resident Evil". The people are slow and weak, the dogs are fast, and I want a missile launcher for the inevitable meeting with Tyrant," he told her and unlocked the door, stepping out.  
  
As the door swung open, Shinigami modeled his new attire. Black army style boots with metal clamps holding the leggings shut and steel plates covering the toes. His sawed off shotgun was now placed in a much higher quality leg holster. He now wore black jeans that were somewhat baggy and had extra pockets, suggesting that he had packed them with extra supplies. He wore a black T-shirt with a dingy white skull on front, a dark gray padded vest with zippered pockets, and a black bandana tied around his head, holding his long black hair back.  
  
He now wore a large black belt around his waist with his machete and survival knife strapped securely, and his two ammo belts crisscrossed across his chest. He made sure his hands were protected with black leather gloves and what appeared to be custom made brass knuckles. Each knuckle now consisted of a two-inch long spike, each looking capable of shattering a cinder block with a single blow.  
  
"If you've got your stuff let's go, it could get dangerous real quick if we hang around for too long," he told her.  
  
"Wait, there's something I think you should have before we go," she stated and walked to her room, directly to the right.  
  
As she dug through her closet, Shinigami stepped in, wondering what she could possibly be looking for. What could she be looking for that was so important? That question was soon answered as she came back out, holding a sheathed sword. As soon as Shinigami saw the hilt he knew what type of sword it was.  
  
"I was going to give it to you as a present for your next birthday, but I think you need it now. After all, one who calls himself the Grim Reaper should have a trademarked weapon," she said as she handed him the sword.  
  
Shinigami removed the sword from its sheathe, looking over the blade work. It was absolutely beautiful. And there was no question about it; the blade was so sharp it could easily cut through anything that dared to get in his way.  
  
"It's absolutely beautiful. This will definitely come in handy if I run out of ammo," he told her and replaced the sheathe.  
  
"I bet it will. I used every last shell last night. I've been reduced to using a machete and crowbar in defense," she told him.  
  
"That won't be a problem for much longer, last night we took every last weapon Super Wal-Mart had to offer. We'll get you an automatic rifle. Now let's go, I don't like being inside when there's a fight going on outside," he told her and took her hand.  
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
Shinigami climbed out of the window first, making sure enough glass was cleared away from the bottom so he wouldn't cut his legs, and neither would his mother. As soon as he got to the ground, he helped her climb out as well.  
  
"Come on, the jeep's just ahead," he told her.  
  
They started to take off, but quickly stopped. An army of the dead blocked the entire front yard and advancing quickly.  
  
"Here we go again," she stated.  
  
"No, these are different, these guys are a little faster than all the others I've handled, something definitely isn't good here," he told her and drew his new sword, "you get to the jeep, I'll keep them busy," he said and charged forward.  
  
Several zombies were beheaded with a single swing with the sword, leading Shinigami to believe that it would be easy to mow his way through in no time at all.  
  
As Shinigami kept the horde busy, his mother worked her way to the jeep. But as she was about to get in, she was dragged down onto the ground, being held down by a rotting corpse. She screamed as he fought back, trying to force her way free, but the zombie was just too strong.  
  
"Help," she screamed.  
  
"Mom! I'm coming," he shouted as he sliced through another zombie to get through, but he was quickly dragged backward into the horde and surrounding him, cutting him off from all possible escape.  
  
"Lousy fuckers," she cursed angrily.  
  
As she held back the zombie with one arm, she felt around with the other, reaching for her fallen crowbar. But just as her fingers brushed against the claw area, the zombie overpowered her, sinking its teeth right into the side of her neck where it met with her shoulder. She screamed in pain as a huge hunk of her flesh was torn away, her blood spraying from the wound like a fountain.  
  
An angered roar was heard as the zombie was pulled back, and cut in half right down the middle by Shinigami's sword. He cursed wildly as his adrenaline flowed through his veins, clouding his thought, driving his rage to an all time high.  
  
He charged forward, cutting through one zombie after another, reducing them to mere piles of old meat and bones and puddles of blood. The few that had managed to get too close for him to use the sword, were dealt with by the spiked knuckles and metal toed boots.  
  
Eventually there wasn't a zombie left moving. Shinigami breathed heavily as he was still full of rage, but forced it to subside, there was nothing left to kill. He then remembered his mother. He set his sword down and went over to her side, helping her up. She was already pale from the loss of blood; most of it soaked into her attire.  
  
"Come on mom, you're gonna be okay, I know it. I'm gonna find somebody and get you to the hospital," he told her.  
  
"No, no it's too late for me, you know that," she protested.  
  
"Bullshit, it's never too late, there's gotta be something we can do," he told her in a state of panic.  
  
"You know as well as I do. The first rule of being attacked by a zombie: Once you're bitten, you must die or else you'll be turned into one," she told him.  
  
"Rules were meant to be broken. You and I are gonna get through this," he told her.  
  
"No I already know I'm not. Please, kill me so I won't have to suffer. I don't want to come back as one of these things. If I do I might find you and attack you. I don't want that to happen I don't want to change. I'm begging you kill me now while you still can!"  
  
"I can't!"  
  
"Fine then! If you can't do it then I will," she shouted and shoved him back.  
  
As Shinigami tripped over one of the bodies he was forced back. But as he got back up he noticed that his mother now held his shotgun. She held it to her chin, tears rolling down her cheeks.  
  
"Goodbye son, I love you," she told him quietly.  
  
"Mom no," he screamed.  
  
But it was too late, the trigger was pulled, the bang sounded, and that was it. Shinigami couldn't believe his eyes; he had just seen his mother, the only one he had left in his life kill herself.  
  
Shinigami dropped to his knees, not able to utter a word. He hunched over, placing his hands on the ground as, for the first time in years, he started to cry.  
  
"Mom, why," he sobbed, "you were the only one I had left in my life, and now you're gone. I'm all alone."  
  
Angrily, he pounded the ground with both fists, turned to the cloudy sky, and screamed at the top of his lungs.  
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
"The Baptist Church? Are you sure about this," Sam asked as he and Jake exited the mini van and approached the building, "what makes you think they'd be here?"  
  
"Look at it. It's a sound place to hide. Thick walls, the doors can be barricaded from the inside, and the windows are hard to get to from the outside, only a basketball player zombie could reach them. Now come on, it's as good a chance as any that we'll find them there," Jake explained.  
  
"I sure hope you're right. I don't wanna be opening a hot box of zombies that'll stampede us and pick our bones clean," Sam said as he hoisted his axe.  
  
"Down Paul Bunyan," Jake said as he knocked on the two large doors, "anybody alive in there? If so open the door, now," he ordered.  
  
"Hey that's no way to talk to them. Stand aside and let Mr. Suave handle it," Sam told him.  
  
"I'm already handling it, why should I step aside for myself," Jake asked.  
  
"Shove off asshole, I'll show you how it really goes," Sam told him as he approached the door, "if anybody is in there, speak up now before we come charging in and blast everything that moves! You got to the count of five! One, two, three, four..."  
  
Before Sam could finish counting the two could hear a commotion going on inside, followed b the sound of something heavy being moved away from the door. As he set down his axe, the doors were opened just enough to let them in.  
  
"Thank the Lord you two are of the living," the Father stated.  
  
The two looked around and saw the church packed to capacity with people, a lot of them wounded.  
  
"You were right, a lot of people are here. Father what happened to these people," Sam asked.  
  
"They were viciously attacked by those demons out there. So far we haven't been found here," the priest stated.  
  
"I'm not so sure about that. Those things are zombies, and the only reason they haven't attacked yet is because they haven't detected the scent of your flesh, or they've given up on trying to get in here," Jake told him.  
  
"You're wrong son, these are demons sent by the Lord to punish us for our sins against him," the priest retorted.  
  
"You're wrong padre," Sam interjected, "these are zombies with no purpose other than to feed. This isn't God's handy work. This was caused by yesterdays chemical spill downtown on the highway. Speaking of which how did you avoid being infected?"  
  
"The Lord protected his faithful followers from the plague, and he will continue to protect us in this time of crisis," the priest protested.  
  
"Now look, there's no time to argue! We have to get out of here before we're attacked by a huge army of the dead and we can't protect ourselves! You're either coming with us willingly or you're getting dragged out," Sam yelled.  
  
"Sam, down! We can't take all these people with us, we'd need a semi and trailer to do it," Jake explained.  
  
"Really," Sam asked dumbfounded, "wait here, I'll find one."  
  
"Are you nuts, you could get killed out there, and even if you don't, you don't know enough to drive a big rig, you're going on a suicide mission," Jake told him.  
  
"I've gotta do something, I'm not going to sit around here and wait to die or be rescued. This is something I have to do," he replied.  
  
"Well as your friend I can't let you do that, you're gonna have to go through me," Jake said as he stood in front of the door.   
  
"Suit yourself, but you had the chance. Hiyah!"  
  
Jake's eyes went wide, before they crossed and he fell to his knees in pain, emitting a high squeal.  
  
"Take care of him until I get back padre," Sam told him as he stepped over his friend.  
  
"God be with you, son," the priest told him.  
  
"Thanks, I'll need it," Sam said as he stepped outside of the door, it being barricaded seconds later.  
  
As the two of the people helped the temporarily crippled Jake into a pew to sit and recover. But seconds later, a horrifying scream was heard, followed by the sound of pure carnage and something heavy and metal hitting the concrete of the outside.  
  
Everybody inside dared not move, listening to hear what happened next. A loud thud was heard against the door, cracking the barricading beam. If it was just as hard three or four more times it would be all over, the doors would be forced open, and whatever was out there would be able to get in.  
  
"That's not good. That wood is yellow pine, even stronger than mahogany. Whatever's out there is even stronger than the dead. God must be furious with us," the priest stated.  
  
"God isn't doing this," Jake squeaked as he attempted to stand back up, "that thing, whatever it is, probably isn't anything we've ever seen before."  
  
The doors were continually slammed into, the beam barricading the doors cracking more each time. It wouldn't be long now until it was broken in half, and whatever was outside would get inside.  
  
Jake fought against the excruciating pain in his groin and moved over to the door, trying to push against them in an attempt to hold them shut.  
  
"Get some chains or something! We can wrap them around the door handles," he ordered as his voice dropped somewhat.  
  
One of the people in the pews brought a crowbar over and managed to shove it through the handles to keep the doors from being forced open.  
  
Whatever was outside was now wailing evilly as it slammed itself against the doors. Jake knew he was strong, but he also knew he couldn't keep the doors shut if both the beam and bar were broken.  
  
But then, surprising everyone, a long metal spike penetrated the door, it had to be at least two feet long, covered in something that appeared to be blood. The creature wailed in pain this time and the spike was viciously ripped out, followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground, and a fight breaking out.  
  
"Padre, what's going on out there," Jake asked.  
  
The priest ran over to the door and peered out through the golfball sized hole, not believing his eyes at what he saw.  
  
"Somebody dressed in black is fighting with a demon with shackles. And his language is most foul," the priest stated.  
  
"Lemme see," Jake said as he looked through the hole now, "well I'll be damned! He's still alive," he stated.  
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
Shinigami stayed in his kneeling position for a long time, but he eventually forced himself back to his feet. He knew that crying wouldn't bring his mother back, and he knew it was no use and just a waste of energy. He wiped his eyes and took back the shotgun in his mother's hand, and replaced it in the holster. He then walked back over and picked up his sword. As he looked over the bloody blade, his expression hardened and he slid it back into its sheathe.  
  
"Mother, I'm sorry I couldn't save you. But I will avenge you, I swear it. I won't rest until every last zombie has been destroyed, I promise you that," he said.  
  
He went back to the jeep, got in the driver's seat, threw it into drive, made a U-turn, and headed back down the street, determined to bring an end to this nightmare.  
  
"Not a one will stand, everything will be killed, again! This I swear! I lost my mother, but I won't let anybody else in this town suffer her the same fate," he muttered to himself as he pushed harder on the accelerator.  
  
He had driven by lots of houses in second and had reached downtown. He would've continued driving, but something caught his eyes. Something vile was trying to break into the Baptist Church.  
  
The creature was a menacing six feet tall, but because it was hunched over it looked shorter. It skin was an infected shade of green, and its bones stuck out of one leg, like the flesh had been ripped away entirely. It had large powerful hands with sharp claws, and talons on its feet. All the way down its back were long spikes, giving it protection against backbiters. Its head was small, and impossible to get a good look at, and the wail it emitted was horrible. Broken shackles covered the ankles and wrists, making it looks as though it was an escaped prisoner.  
  
At the foot of the stairs was a dead body, blood covering the entire area and an arm ripped off. Cast aside was a large axe that he easily recognized as the one that belonged to Sam.  
  
"Welcome, to Raccoon City. Population, 3000 zombies and growing," he said as he got out of the jeep ad drew his shotgun.  
  
He aimed for the head, but found it impossible to completely lock onto it due to the size, and he knew it wasn't going to be easy. He looked around for any kind of a weapon and found something. A large prybar, six feet in length a very thick. Perfect.  
  
He picked up the prybar and charged. As he got closer, the stench became horrible, gagging strength to weaker people, but he had smelt much worse in his time.  
  
He marched up the stairs and with a mighty thrust, he impaled the creature through the back, penetrating what would be considered the left lung, and going through the doors of the church.  
  
"Time to die fucker," he yelled and pulled back enough for the prybar to leave the door, allowing his to flip the creature, sending it down and through the metal railing.  
  
Now that it was away from the door, Shinigami saw its horrid face. Blood red eyes and fangs to match, a long tongue coming from its mouth, and a vile green blood oozing from the injury site.  
  
As Shinigami leapt down to the ground, the creature looked at him with its crimson eyes and howled, swinging for his head. Shinigami ducked and kicked it where its chin would be, forcing it back, disorientating it enough for him to get behind it and rip out the prybar.  
  
The monster turned and swiped again, meeting with the cold steel instead, which met its face in a swiping motion. As the creature stumbled back even more, Shinigami rammed it, piercing the middle of its chest, and running until the prybar was lodge in a telephone poll.  
  
The monster wailed as it tried to pull itself free, but found that it couldn't. As it heard the cocking of a shotgun it looked up, meeting with two guns aimed right for its head.  
  
"I came, I saw, I conquered, I blew your fuckin' head off."  
  
With that, Shinigami fired both guns from a distance, causing the creature's head to explode, gore flying everywhere, killing it. As he turned, he saw the doors being opened and who appeared to be Jake, stepping out.  
  
"Shinigami you asshole, somehow I knew you'd still be alive," he grunted, "that a friend of yours?"  
  
"Like hell, but that over there is...was yours," Shinigami said as he pointed his shotgun in the direction of Sam's body.  
  
"Oh God, that thing killed him," Jake stated.  
  
"No duh," Shinigami began, but stopped when he saw the body moving, "guess he wasn't attacked in the head. You wanna finish him off or should I?"  
  
"No, I've gotta do this myself, he was my friend," Jake told him as he raised his shotgun.  
  
As the dead Sam rose to his feet, he groaned in zombie fashion and moved to his axe, picking it up with his remaining hand. He then turned to face his best friend Jake, receiving a load of buckshot in his head, dropping him for good this time.  
  
"You did what you had to do," Shinigami said as he put his gloved hand on his shoulder, "anybody else in there alive?"  
  
"Yeah, a lot of people," Jake told him.  
  
"Well drag 'em outta there, I can't set foot in there," Shinigami said as he lit another cigarette.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I'll burst into flames if I set foot in there," he explained.  
  
"Was that a joke," Jake asked.  
  
"..."  
  
"I see," Jake replied slowly and moved back into the church.  
  
"Dipshit," Shinigami cursed as he threw away his used cigarette.  
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
Eventually Jake managed to drag the priest out of the church, followed by the others who were currently inhabiting it.  
  
"Damn, okay priest gimme the lowdown, what kind of injuries are these people suffering from? Were any of them bitten by those things," Shinigami asked.  
  
"First explain who you are," the priest ordered.  
  
"The Angel of Death that descended on this city, to reap of harvest of the walking dead. Most people call me Shinigami, now answer the question, I have no respect for a man of the cloth," he explained.  
  
"I see, now what was the question," the priest asked, now familiar with whom he was dealing with.  
  
"Never mind I'll get the answer myself. Everybody listen up! Whoever was bitten by one of those walking dead, step forward and to the left," he ordered.  
  
Several people stepped forward and to the left like they had been ordered to do.  
  
"What a pitiful bunch. Okay, have any of you seen the George Romero movies," Shinigami asked, receiving a few nods, "good, then you'll understand why I'm going to do what I'm about to."  
  
Shinigami raised his shotgun, not bothering to aim and fired. The scatter range of the buckshot tore through the three, killing them instantly. Unfortunately he also received an uppercut, sending him back.  
  
"What are you doing! Killing innocent people with no excuse! You're going to hell boy," the priest stated.  
  
"Give 'em a few minutes and you'll se why padre," Shinigami told him and cocked his shotgun, expelling the spent shell.  
  
Before anyone could voice another complaint, the three freshly killed people were groaning and slowly getting back to their feet, their eyes now flooded with a fluorescent green liquid.  
  
"You see? Once bitten there is no hope of surviving, it's just a matter of time before you turn into one of them, see," another shot was fired, forcing the three back, but not killing them, "the only way to kill them is to kill them is hit them right in the head! Like this!"  
  
This time the three were dropped dead for good, the buckshot ripping through their heads.  
  
"This is no wrath of God that we've been dealing with, this is a virus that spread throughout the lower half of this hick town and infected everybody it touched. Somehow, it got into the sky, caused it to rain, which saturated the cemeteries and caused the dead to rise, and now we're being overrun by them. We have to find whoever's left alive, and get the hell out of here while we still can," Shinigami explained.  
  
"What makes you think that this problem is just an isolated incident? It could be happening all over," one of the people in the crowd stated.  
  
"I've already thought of that. I know that we may be risking our lives by going out of the city, but if we don't we'll die anyway. The supply trucks have stopped rolling in; they've stopped delivering food, water, everything. Within weeks we'll die if we don't leave this town and find a populated area. If we don't go, we're doomed however you look at it," Shinigami explained, "and once we run out of food, what do we do then? Do we become cannibals and kill each other so we can survive? We'll be no better than the walking dead! We have to go now!"  
  
"I hate to admit it but he's right," Jake stated.  
  
"Oh shut up and remove your lips from my ass," Shinigami stated.  
  
"So what's the plan now," Jake asked as he quickly changed the subject.  
  
"Get the girls get the hell outta town and kill whatever gets in our way," Shinigami explained.  
  
"That could take a while, how do we transport all these people," he asked.  
  
"I don't know. I suppose we can get a bus or two. If we cram everybody together we might be able to pull it off. Can you drive one," Shinigami asked.  
  
"I drove a pickup once, what about you?"  
  
"I stole a bus when I was fifteen," he replied.  
  
"Excuse me, I can drive a bus," one of the crowd members exclaimed.  
  
"Well why didn't ya say so in the first place? Step out here jerky. Jake, take bus boy and fine a bus that still works and get back here," Shinigami ordered.  
  
"I'm not in any mood to argue with you, I'll kick your insubordinate ass when we get back," Jake stated as he and the bus driver headed for the mini van.   
  
"I'm holding you to that promise, you forget and I'll crack your nuts," he exclaimed.  
  
"Oh this has truly been quite a day," the priest stated and took out a flask from his robe and took a large sip of the contents, "would you care for a drink, my son?"  
  
"I don't believe in drinking, I have to be sharp, I can't let my mind get clouded by booze. Cigarettes are another story; they don't affect my thinking capabilities or my response time, not anymore," Shinigami explained.  
  
"Tell me my son, what kind of vicious demon is that which you fought," the priest asked and gestured to the telephone pole.  
  
"Beats the hell outta me, that's the first thing of its kind I ever saw," Shinigami stated.  
  
"Shinigami!"  
  
Shinigami turned and saw a young girl charging up to him, he easily recognized her as Ami.  
  
"Ami what's going on, how'd you get here," Shinigami asked.  
  
"Salley and I were attacked by something mean, it killed her, but I got away, I came here," she explained as she gasped for breath.  
  
"Sally? She's dead? What attacked here," he asked in surprise.  
  
"I don't know, it was big, and green, and muscled, and---"  
  
"Wait a minute, something doesn't seem right. Salley lives a long way off from here right? So how did you get here, without a weapon, and on foot, without a single scratch on you," Shinigami asked.  
  
Salley looked shocked, slightly backing away in surprise.  
  
"Ami? Ami. Ami! Answer me now! What really happened," Shinigami demanded to know.  
  
Ami's bottom lip quivered in terror as Shinigami slowly advanced. She backed up but suddenly stopped. Her eyes rolled back in her head as a blue liquid flooded them. She drew her lips back, revealing sharp teeth. She hissed and leapt right at Shinigami's throat.  
  
Shinigami barely had enough time to react. He latched onto Ami's arms and held her back, making sure she couldn't reach over and bite his arms.  
  
"Somebody get a hold of her," he shouted.  
  
Nobody came to his aid however, they all charged back into the church in terror, except to the priest.  
  
"She's been possessed," he stated.  
  
"No way father, she's a monster," Shinigami stated as he finally managed to throw Ami off of him and against the jeep.  
  
Ami stood back up and grunted. She cackled viciously as her flooded blue eyes set back on Shinigami. Her fingernails grew into claws and her skin started to split, exposing large blue muscles underneath.  
  
"We is in deep shit," Shinigami stated.  
  
Ami cracked her neck and charged again, wanting to rip a piece out of Shinigami. But unfortunately for her she didn't get the chance, with a quick move Shinigami grasped her arm and twisted it behind her back, pulling his right fist back and sending a devastating punch to the back of her head, impaling her skull on the spikes.  
  
"That's over," he stated.  
  
But Shinigami was wrong. Ami didn't drop; she threw him back and turned to face him, still laughing evilly.  
  
"How's that even possible, I cracked her skull and hit her brain, she should be dead by now," he stated.  
  
Ami sneered and charged again, swinging a clawed hand for Shinigami's neck. He brought up his forearm and blocked the hand from reaching his head and swung, punching Ami in the gut as hard as he could. Ami barely flinched, instead she delivered a punch to Shinigami's gut, knocking all the wind out of him and dropping him to the ground.  
  
As Ami approached she cracked her knuckles, ready to deliver the final blow. She shoved the priest aside and reached for Shinigami's chest. But just as she pulled back a loud gunshot sounded and she dropped lifelessly to the ground.  
  
Shinigami held his gut as he coughed violently, causing one to think that he might puke. But he didn't. He got up to his knees and then to his feet. He turned to look where the rouge bullet might've come from, and the expression on his face turned to one of pure hatred.  
  
"Aw fuck. Just when I think this situation can't get any worse, somebody just has to call these guys in," he said to himself.   
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
Three of our heroes are now dead, strange monsters have now attacked, and now an unknown force has entered the scene. Who are they? Are they the army, the national guard, or a secret government branch of the service? And what was the creature that Shinigami executed at the church? To find out, you'll have to read chapter 3. 


	3. Day Two Continued

Day Two (continued)

Disclaimer: I own the characters, the plot, the location, (possibly the title, I'm not sure) and that's about it. Anything else mentioned is somebody else's property.

Author's Note: This story is not recommended for anybody under the age of 16. This story will contain, blood, gore, vomiting, language, graphic scenes, intense violence, minors using firearms and language, death, defacing of public servants, destruction of private and public property, more death, decapitation, dismemberment, murder, intense anger, and everything else that gives that can give a story an R rating. So a word of advice, don't take after these characters, it isn't healthy.

Also, I'd like to apologize to everyone I've kept waiting for so long. I hope this makes up for it. I've also been experimenting with another style of writing, which helps explain why I'm so late. Sort of.

Shinigami sneered as he watched a red, rusted pickup truck pull up and out of it climbed six hicks and rednecks who were at place on a farm (A/N: I'm not insulting anybody who would qualify as a redneck, it's just a part of the story) carrying shotguns and carbine rifles.

"Well doggies, looks like we got here just in time to save ya kid," one of the rednecks, a black haired man dressed in faded blue jeans, a plaid shit and carrying a rifle stated, "name's Billy Joe, what's yours kid?"

"...Shinigami, think you can remember that, hick?" Shinigami replied calmly.

"Well shoot sonny, course I can. Lemme intraduce ya ta the rest a the family. This guy's Joe Bob Briggs," Billy Joe said and grabbed some blond guy by the collar of his denim vest, "Joey this is Shinigami."

"Nice ta meet ya Shini'," Joe said and grinned like the stereotypic hick and laughed.

"Don't bother explaining or introducing me to the rest of your inbred family, what the hell are you guys doing here," Shinigami asked as he drew his pump action shotgun.

"Well shoot sonny we was just savin' your life from that overgrown iguana that was goin' the rip off yer balls," Billy Joe told him.

"I gathered that. I mean what's your hick group doing?" Shinigami asked.

"Well ya see," one of the other rednecks began, "we live right near a cemetery and afta last night's rain we seen dead people poppin' up all ova the place. We found does devils eatin' some of our prize farm animals so we plugged 'em full a holes. Eventually we woiked are ways to dere heads and that killed 'em. And den we said to ourselves this can't just be isolated. So we hopped inta our trucks and we been drivin' around shootin' as many a dese things as we could. Danged if I know what caused these suckers coming around when they shoulda been in the ground," he explained.

"You too eh? Should've expected the calvary of this town to show up. Thank God or whatever's in charge you guys aren't the army," Shinigami explained.

"Well shoot boy we is the army! We gots it maybe 30 guys out shootin' dese things on sight. Anything dat don't run or talk is a prime target for a hole in the head!" Billy Joe exclaimed.

"Marvelous. Hey priest! Get everyone out here and meet their rescuers," Shinigami bellowed, "um...Joe Bob, how many zombies would you say are still around?"

"Well shoot, I'd say...must be around four of five hundred in just our area," Joe Bob stated.

"Wonderful. I doubt we've got enough ammo to handle all of them. What we need to do is gather them up into a big group and just blow 'em to hell," Shinigami stated, "now, we just need an idea on how to do it."

"Help! Incoming!"

Everybody turned to see Jake charging after the group running as fast as he could, followed by a huge decaying Great Dane chasing after him.

"It just figures. Jake, down!" Shinigami yelled and drew his survival knife and threw it hard.

Jake ducked (or tripped really) just in time to avoid getting hit. The knife buried itself in the Dane's head, dropping it to the ground.

"Damn that's good aim," Billy Joe stated.

"It coulda been better," he simply replied.

"Shinigami you crazy bastard," Jake stated as he got back to his feet, "nice aim, you saved my life!"

"Don't rub it in, I'll regret it," he replied, "before you ask, meet the redneck calvary."

"Later. That thing killed the bus driver. We got to the bus depot, the place was swarmed. We need something big to get rid of these things," he stated, receiving a hard slap from Shinigami.

"Calm down damnit! The thing that's most important is not to panic otherwise we're dead," he stated, "now listen. What we need is calm, cool thinking. We need a plan."

Shinigami went over to the jeep and climbed up onto the hood. He had to get through to the other people but over their talking he needed to be loud enough for them to notice. Being taller wouldn't hurt either.

"Alright people...people?" he began but nobody paid any attention, "EVERYBODY SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN TO ME!" he yelled, causing everybody's head to turn to him.

"Now. I know things look like shit right now, and I must agree," he said as he jumped down from the hood, "this is a war, we're civilians trapped in the middle. But we're also soldiers in this matter. If we work together we can win! Now, what's a soldier without weapons? I want each of you to find something you can use to protect yourselves. Go to the stores, the shops, homes, wherever. I want you to pick out anything that you can use for weapons. Shovels, hoes, axes, crowbars, whatever. Once you get these, meet back here and wait for further instructions. Understand?" he asked.

Everybody started muttering amongst themselves about this plan. And from the sound of it nobody was too hot for it, until they saw Shinigami hoisting his shotgun, causing a stir of fear to arise in them, and make them agree to go along with the plan. About half of the group scattered, while the other half moved at a slower pace, indicating that they would probably be checking local stores or hanging around.

As everybody scattered, Jake moved over to Shinigami for a private bull session. "Are you sure about this Shin'? The whole plan seems flawed."

"I know. There's only a handful of us and thousands of zombies, but it's all we got. It beats relying on the hicks," Shinigami replied.

"Who's you callin' a hick!" Joe Bob demanded.

"You, dumbass inbred chicken choker. Now go back to your brothers or cousins or whatever the hell they are and do what you do best," Shinigami told him.

"Where we come from dem is fightin' woids," Joe Bob exclaimed.

"I'll fight you later hick, after everyone is safe," Shinigami told him.

"We's gonna fight right now whether you like it or not," Joe Bob stated and charged for an attack.

Before Joe Bob could make contact with his fist, Shinigami grabbed his wrist, knelt down, planted his free hand on his chest and flipped Job Bob onto his back.

"I said we'll fight later, chicken choker. Until these people are safe, I have no time for games, and neither do you. Understand," Shinigami asked, receiving a nervous nod in response, "very good. You're brighter than your looks immediately suggest."

Suddenly a loud crashing sound caught everyone's attention. They looked around to see what was going on but they didn't see anything. The same sound was heard again. This time they saw a small dust cloud coming from a manhole cover in the center of the intersection.

"Oh boy," Jake stated, he ran over and grabbed Sam's discarded axe, readying himself to swing at whatever was going to come up.

Shinigami moved away from Joe Bob, cocked his shotgun and aimed for the cover, his finger brushing the trigger. For a minute the rumbling stopped and the manhole cover remained still, but this caused everyone's tension to rise higher. Shinigami slowly moved his finger below the trigger guard and lowered his gun, not sure what to do.

Suddenly the manhole cover shot off with a loud boom, blowing everyone back, the cover landing where Shinigami was last standing. If Joe Bob had been any slower he would've been crushed.

"Damn!" both of them stated at once.

Shinigami reached into one of his vest pockets and withdrew a small box of matches. He pulled out one, lit it and threw it into the hole, resulting in a gigantic fireball.

"You think it's dead?" Jake asked.

"Stick your head down there and see," Shinigami told him.

"I'll take your word for it," Jake replied.

"I'm beginning to wonder if this damn city really is Concordia," Shinigami stated.

"Where else would we be?" Jake asked.

"Hell or Raccoon City, whichever comes first," he replied.

"Is there any chance that this is some weird dream or mass hallucination?" Jake asked.

"No chance, things like this have to be real," Shinigami told him.

"I was afraid you'd say that," Jake stated and held his head.

"You use to be a tough street fighting kid, right Jake?" Shinigami asked.

"Yeah, so what," Jake replied.

"If so you wouldn't be afraid in this situation. Toughen up you ass wipe," Shinigami told him.

"Now look you!" Jake yelled.

"Fuck off!" Shinigami told him and shoved him.

"Piss off asshole!" Jake replied and shoved him back.

"Dumbass!" Shinigami yelled and punched him in the face.

"Mother fucker!" Jake yelled as he retaliated.

Shinigami grasped Jake's hand and began to squeeze hard. You could almost hear the bones cracking.

"Never! Talk! About! My! Mother! Again!"

The next thing Jake knew he was sent across the street, two of his permanent teeth knocked right out. Before he could get up Shinigami stormed over to him and brought his broadsword down near his head, missing by just an inch.

"If you dare speak of my mother again I'll kill you without an ounce of hesitation. Understand?" Shinigami asked as she kicked Jake in the side.

"Understood," he croaked out.

"Good, now get your ass up and show your real fighting spirit," Shinigami ordered.

"You'll see my fighting spirit, when I kill you," Jake told him and wiped the blood away from his mouth.

"You can kill me when we get out of here alive," Shinigami told him.

"I'm holding you to that promise," Jake replied.

"You can try, but you won't get too far," Shinigami told him.

"Gentlemen," the priest spoke up.

"Who came in?" Shinigami asked.

"Might there be weapons in the police station?" he asked.

Shinigami and Jake looked at each other, then over at the police station on the opposite block that headed uptown.

"Might as well," Shinigami stated as he dashed across the street and performed a flying jump kick, smashing through the glass panels of the doors and forced them open.

"Show off," Jake stated as he followed.

"At least I used the door this time. You take one side I'll take the other."

"Right."

The two teenagers split up and began to search the rooms of the police station, looking for extra weapons they could use for protection. But as they went from room to room, nothing of use was found. Instead all they found was junk.

"Damn, not even my dad knows that many curses," Jake muttered as he heard Shinigami's endless string of curses and bangs from things being thrown, "hey asshole you finding anything?"

"Not a fucking thing dumbass! Now shut your hole and keep searching!"

"Hard ass," Jake muttered as he searched through another drawer, again finding nothing.

"Damn it! What I wouldn't give for an M-16, or an AK-47, or even a couple UZIs," Shinigami stated as he flipped over a desk, hoping to find something, but all he got was even more frustrated, "fuck it! The weapon racks are empty, there's nothing in the desks, those officers must've taken everything!"

Angrily, Shinigami stomped on the floor, leaving a somewhat noticeable boot print. But he also heard something strange. It was somewhat hollow.

"I wonder," he said as he bent down to examine the floor.

"I don't believe it. What kind of a police station doesn't have a single gun anywhere in it," Jake asked himself as he wildly pulled another drawer out of a desk and dumped its contents out.

"Hey jackass get in here now!" Shinigami shouted.

"What now!" Jake yelled back.

"Don't ask dumbass questions just get in here or else!"

"Fine hold your damned horses!"

Jake angrily got up and stormed to the room where Shinigami was. He was about to give him a royal cursing but before he got the chance he saw something. There was a trap door in the floor, open and a ladder leading down.

"What the hell is that?"

"Something we may need," Shinigami stated.

Shinigami was the first to climb down. Shortly after he came back up, smiling evilly.

"Follow me, you won't believe what's down here."

"What is it," Jake asked.

"Shut your hole and follow me," Shinigami ordered.

Even though he was getting tired of being pushed around, Jake climbed down the ladder with Shinigami. As soon as he reached the bottom he saw what the big deal was.

Lining the walls of the dimly lit room, were stands of guns inside protective glass cases. There were dozens of guns in the cases. Shotguns, MP-5s assault rifles, sniper rifles, a few UZIs and AK-47s, handguns of varying caliber, and hundreds of magazines, each stacked in neat piles with a sticker designating their types of what gun they fit in.

The two looked at each other and smiled widely before yelling out excitedly, like two little kids who were giving permission to have anything they wanted from the toy store.

"There's tons of this shit here! We could have an army with this stuff!" Jake yelled.

"We've got an army of townspeople outside, we've got an even better fighting chance with this stuff. Nothing's gonna stand in our way now," Shinigami stated as he smashed his way through one of the cases and removed the weapon he was after. A Mossberg 590 with mounted heat shield, an 18" barrel, folding stock and pistol grip. Overall it was a much better model than what he currently carried.

"Where do you think all this shit came from," Jake asked as he too smashed the glass and started grabbed weapons left and right.

"My guess is...this is an underground bunker in case some catastrophe happened and no small munitions would cut it. Remind me to thank whoever came up with this idea," Shinigami told him as dumped his old model shotgun after retrieving the shells.

"With what weapons we have now, and what we're getting we'll be invincible," Jake shouted.

"Not quite but we'll sure be damn close to invincible. We might even be able to take on Nemesis with all this stuff!"

"No for that we need a rocket launcher," Jake told him.

"Not the way I fight," Shinigami told him as he stuff magazines into various pockets of his attire, "two shotguns, two machetes, a sword, a survival knife and spiked knuckles. I'm prepared for anything."

"You're a heavy duty guy. But what're you gonna do if a zombie gets in close? Those weapons could do some massive damage to you too," Jake told him as he grabbed a pair of mini UZIs.

"I'm aware of that. And that's why I'm also taking these," he said as he showed Jake the two handguns he chose, "a Glock 18. At close range...it'll be good," he said with a malicious grin."

"You truly are one sick bastard," Jake stated as he climbed up the ladder to push through several guns so he could grab more.

"You know what we should've brought? A shopping cart," Shinigami told him.

"There's bound to be one outside when we get there," Jake told him.

"Hey everybody we've got weapons galore," Jake shouted as he ran through the door.

Shinigami passed off Jake's statement as simple excitement. Yelling about weapons would do no good if everybody was out gathering equipment. He'd deal with him later. But sure enough there were still people standing outside. For what reason, he wasn't sure of.

But before he even had the chance to ask anything, he could see a truck just a few blocks in the distance heading their way. At first he was relieved, seeing that help might be on the way. But then the more logical part of his brain took over. He saw that it was an army truck. The same kind used for troop transporting.

The truck stopped at the end of the block and over half a dozen men began to pile out of the back. Each of them was dressed in black riot squad gear and gas masks, and each was carrying a modern looking assault rifle in their hands.

"Oh shit!"

As Jake got further out everything seemed to slow down. Nobody seemed to notice the soldiers or that they were raising their rifles. Shinigami moved out and grabbed Jake by the arms and pulled him back and pushed him into the police building before leaping in after him.

Two seconds later shots began to ring out, followed by the wounded cries of the few people who had remained behind.

"What the fuck! Shinigami who did you piss off this time!" Jake yelled.

"It's not me it's the army," Shinigami replied, "I was afraid this would happen. They showed up and instead of helping us they're going to kill all of us!"

"Oh this just gets better!" Jake replied.

"Don't I fuckin' know it. Lemme see your double barrel I wanna test a theory of mine."

Instead of arguing Jake simply handed him the shotgun. Shinigami checked and found both barrels loaded with live rounds rather than empty shells; just as he was hoping. He waited until the hail of fire had stopped before moving out from behind the brick wall and opening fire on one of the troops, hitting him in the chest and knocking him back a couple of feet.

"Fuck, just as I feared," Shinigami said as he ducked back in before more rounds were fired.

"What?" Jake asked.

"They're protected. Ceramic trauma plating most likely. It's like a suit of armor but its very light and flexible. Not even a shotgun can penetrate it," Shinigami explained.

"How do you know all this?" Jake asked.

"Politics," Shinigami muttered as he looked around the room, "didn't we pass some riot shields when we came in?"

"I dunno but I think I saw some in the back room."

"Go get a couple I've got an idea," Shinigami instructed.

"What're you gonna do?" Jake asked.

"What I always do. Improvise until inspiration strikes," he replied and readied his newly acquired shotgun.

"You're crazier than I am," Jake muttered as he ran off to retrieve the shields.

"Flattery will get him fuckin' nowhere," Shinigami mumbled to himself.

Shinigami looked out to see the current position of the troops. They were getting closer to the building and had their guns at the ready. Muttering something in Japanese he jumped out from behind his hiding spot and leveled his shotgun.

"Everybody freeze and nobody gets hurt!" he shouted, hoping he would spark some kind of fear in the men. But unfortunately all he got was a hail of fire in response, causing him to duck back inside.

As he glanced out he noticed his jeep again. It was still fully loaded with all his ammo, and the troops were about to pass right by it. "Decisions, decisions," he said to himself and glanced between the troops and the ammo carrying jeep.

They would definitely need the ammo for future encounters, but if they were dead it wouldn't matter how well supplied they were. Finally after coming to his conclusions, Shinigami ducked back out just enough and fired once, pumped the shotgun to expel the empty case, and fired again, both in the same direction.

The buckshot spread out very little as it continued on, hitting the covering of the gas tank and rip through, causing it to explode into flames. The resulting heat from the explosion almost instantly ate through the plastic that made of the boxes housing the shells, causing them to ignite in a second explosion, sending buckshot in every direction. The blast of both explosions sent the troops to the ground, and hopefully it would deter them from getting closer.

Unfortunately Shinigami's hopes were dashed. Just over a minute later and already they were getting back on their feet. "Don't these guys ever fucking learn?" Shinigami asked angrily and ducked out and began to open fire on the troops while they were still down, hoping to stop them for a little longer.

Unfortunately before long he had completely run out of ammo and was forced to duck back inside before he was shot full of holes. "D-damn it," he muttered with himself and struggled to reload his shotgun.

"Trouble?" Jake asked as he finally came back with two black riot squad shields, one in each hand.

"Big trouble! I blew up the jeep and it only slowed them down!" Shinigami yelled.

"You fuckin' blew up the jeep! What the hell were you thinking!?" Jake bellowed.

"I was thinking it would save us but I obviously fucked up," Shinigami said as he took one of the shields from Jake.

"So what're we gonna do now?"

"I have another plan," Shinigami stated, "ceramic trauma plating is very tough, even against shotgun rounds. But up close it offers less protection from heavier artillery," he said as he began to remove his heavy equipment and let it drop to the floor, "I'm gonna get in close and take them out."

"Shin' you're insane! You're gonna die out there if you do this!" Jake yelled back.

"I know. But it's worth the effort," he said as he dumped his stuff on the floor, "cover me?" he asked, holding the shield with his left hand and sawed off shotgun with his right.

"Might as well. Somebody's gotta make you keep your promise," Jake replied.

"Good man," Shinigami replied.

Taking a quick glance out and determining that it was safe, for the moment, Shinigami charged out of the building and headed right for the troops. As he got closer they opened fire with their assault rifles, but he was prepared and held his shield up to stop the attack from reaching him.

With little equipment to slow him down, Shinigami proved faster than the troops anticipated. He got in close to one just as he inserted a new magazine, catching him off guard and aimed his shotgun right for his face, both hammers pulled back into locked position.

"Buh-bye," he stated calmly and pulled the two triggers, shooting the soldier right through the gasmask. The result of the blast ripped through the soldier's head and causing him to be thrown back a good distance before he hit the ground with a painful thud.

As the remaining troops opened fire Shinigami ducked down behind his shield to protect his body from injury, and hoped that Jake wouldn't let him down.

"Hey you fuckers! It's me you want!" Jake's voice rang out as he opened fire with his mini UZIs. This drew the attention of two soldiers but the rest continued firing on Shinigami's shield.

"Should've known it wouldn't work," Shinigami muttered as he reached for two new shells. But as he felt around he realized he had made a very big mistake. While he was stripping down his equipment to be faster, he left his ammo belts back in the police station, "oh shit!"

Now he was in a real pickle. He was sitting out here with his ass practically exposed, unarmed and at the mercy of some severely pissed off soldiers who wanted to blow his brains out, and few options at his disposal. Running back to the police station would get him dead, but so would sitting where he was.

He started looking around for something that could help him, anything. Then he noticed where the soldier had been standing. He must not have had a death grip because his weapon was laying just a few feet away from where he had been standing.

Laying just a few feet away was a fully loaded MP5 A2 rifle. It wouldn't do much against trauma plating but it was better than nothing. He heard an almost collective silence from the troops, except for spent casings hitting the ground. They had to change magazines. Now was his chance.

Like lightning Shinigami bolted and grabbed the MP5 and opened fire into the face of one of the remaining soldiers, tearing through his gasmask and dropping him like a stone. Now it was down to four remaining soldiers. And he was now out of ammo once again.

"I guess using a whole magazine to blow one guy's face off was just a tad fucking excessive," he muttered and ducked behind his shield again, "this is getting monotonous."

Shinigami was growing desperate now. Judging from the appearance of the soldiers they still had plenty of magazines left, and he didn't know if the shield could continue standing up to the excessive assault. And adding to this, Jake was nowhere to be seen. Not even a quick glance of him.

"Its times like this I wish I shot myself when I had the chance," Shinigami said to himself.

"Hey you bastards!"

Shinigami's head snapped up at the sound of the yell and saw Jake standing outside in the street, now holding two of the previously seen AK-47s, each with a banana clip inserted. Shinigami guessed that he was most likely crazy for trying something like this, but he had a plan quickly forming inside his brain.

Jake yelled in a Hollywood war hero style and opened fire on the soldiers, but the rounds had little affect on their armor. They started to aim for him but before they could fire one of the soldiers was tackled from behind by Shinigami who grabbed his arm and aimed his rifle for another of the soldiers in the face and forced him to pull the trigger, unloading an automatic burst of ammunition in his face, tearing through the gasmask and into his head, dropping him for good.

The two soldiers that remained aimed for Shinigami and opened fire, but with his quick thinking he pulled the soldier in front of him with his arms behind his back, using him like a human shield. It was just too bad that he was still armored; otherwise this would've left only two more soldiers.

With their backs turned Jake pushed the gun barrels to their necks, causing them to stop when he stated, "I've still got ammo in these things."

While they were distracted Shinigami pulled the headgear off of his soldier and knocked him out cold, dropping him like a sack of potatoes.

"Now," Shinigami said as he picked up the dropped rifle and aiming at one of the last two soldiers, "tell me everything you know about what's going on or else," he ordered.

"Orders forbid it," the soldier on the left stated.

"Wrong answer," Jake stated and beat him on the back of the head with the butt stock of one of his assault rifles, knocking him out from the force.

"Now it's just you chuckles," Shinigami warned, "look around you, we dealt with the others, we can deal with you. Now you'd better talk or else," he threatened and lowered his gun to the soldier's crotch, making sure he got the point.

"I don't know anything!" the soldier stated in a panic filled voice, "we were given orders to terminate on sight, no questions asked! I swear that's all I know!"

Shinigami contemplated this for several seconds, before drawing him weapon back. The panic in the officer's voice sounded very real so he figured he could believe his story, at least for now.

"Alright," Shinigami said, before high kicking the soldier in the face and knocking him out, "Jake, grab what you can. We're moving out."

"What? How can you say that after all this? I don't know if you realize in Shin' but we're murderers. Oh my God we're murderers! We just killed real people!" Jake said in a panic induced tone.

Shinigami turned and slapped Jake hard, bringing him back to his senses. "Just calm down. We had good reason; it was either them or us and survival instinct dictates that we are to survive. Now just relax before I have to slap you again," Shinigami warned, "now let's get moving before reinforcements come by."

"Wait what about the other survivors? What'll happen to them when they find out we left them?" Jake asked, causing Shinigami to stop in his tracks.

"...Alright, we'll wait for them. But if they're not back in half an hour we move out without them," he replied and headed back to the police station to retrieve his gear.

Unbeknownst to either of the two young heroes, one of the soldiers that was suppose to be knocked out now had his hands on a small remote control, and had just pressed a particular button on the side...

The time seemed to drag on as the two waited around downtown, but there was no sign of any of the other survivors showing up, causing them to lose hopes of seeing any of them again.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity the half hour was up and the two were still alone, with the exception of the three unconscious soldiers.

"Well, time to move out," Shinigami stated.

"Five more minutes they're bound to show up, I know it," Jake replied.

"We've already waited around long enough. We can't afford to wait any longer. Every minute we stay here is another minute we put ourselves in danger, and while I like danger this is extreme danger. There's no telling what new monster may show up," Shinigami explained.

Jake really hated Shinigami for this. Not because he didn't show any emotion about the people, but because he was right. They were in grave danger and standing around just made it worse. They had to get going and soon.

"Alright. Let's move out," Jake replied, but not by choice.

A/N: This is by no means the finished product, but simply the final draft of what I have so far. The beta and rough drafts of the story are being worked out for finalization. This will most likely be the longest of all three chapters. I pray that you can continue to be patient. I hope to be finished someday soon. 


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